


Cat o' Nine Tales

by mewrose



Series: Cat Chat [3]
Category: Persona 4, Persona 5
Genre: Depression, Disassociation, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, Panic Attacks, Social Links | Confidants (Persona Series), Trauma, but also people having thoughtful discussions about feelings, mentions of Persona 4 spinoff games, spoilers for Persona 5 Royal starting at chapter 7
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-22
Updated: 2021-01-22
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:00:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 39,971
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25435036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mewrose/pseuds/mewrose
Summary: “You know, it’s nice to meet someone else like me. There may be nobody else in the world who understands what we’ve been through. If you ever want to talk about it, I’m happy to lend an ear.”A full Social Link between Yu and Ren.Or:Two Wild Cards need therapy, but talking to each other will have to do.
Series: Cat Chat [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1813609
Comments: 105
Kudos: 405





	1. The Tale Begins

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is a direct continuation of the previous fics in the Cat Chat series. If you’re wondering why Yu and Ren are friends, go read those first.

Since that notable day in Mementos, the Phantom Thieves had been keeping in touch with their honorary member, mostly through the group chat. They let him right into the regular Phantom Thieves group chat, because it seemed silly to have a “Phantom Thieves Without Jack” chat, a “Phantom Thieves With Jack” chat, _and_ the “Phantom Felines” chat where they all posted copious amounts of cat pics. Most of the time the PT group chat was just normal teen chatter anyway, and whenever they did mention things about Palaces, picking up supplies or other elements of Phantom Thievery, the other Wild Card didn’t comment. Ren trusted the man to keep whatever he overheard or figured out to himself.

One day after school, Ren had just finished selling off a load of loot at Iwai’s place and was wondering how to spend the afternoon. As he considered this, he ducked into the bookstore on Central Street to see if they had gotten in a book he was looking forward to. He started to turn down an aisle to find the shelf he needed and nearly ran into someone. Reflexes honed by months of combat took over and he jumped backwards, half-falling into a guard position before he recognized the tall, grey-haired guy in front of him. A man who, Ren noticed, was equally quick to step aside, though looked less on guard.

“Oh, hey Narukami-san,” he said, relaxing into a more casual pose. In the bag slung over his shoulder, he felt Morgana shift around, but the cat didn’t stick his head out.

Narukami gave him a wry look. “‘Narukami-san’? I thought we were better friends than that. You can call me Yu, you know.”

Ren shrugged. He didn’t mind one way or another, so… “Alright, Yu-kun.”

Yu smiled. “Better,” he said. “So, what’ve you been up to?”

Ren shrugged again. “School, errands, looking for a book now.”

Yu nodded and said, “Not surprisingly, I was looking for a book too.” He held up the volume in his hand, smiling at Ren. Ren nodded but didn’t say anything more, and after a moment of awkward silence, Yu’s smile faltered a bit.

“Um…” Yu said, looking more uncertain than Ren had ever seen him. Then he asked, “If you’re not busy, wanna get something to eat? I know a place near here that makes great croquettes.”

Ren considered the offer. He had kind of been thinking of spending the afternoon with one of his confidants, but he hadn’t decided for sure yet. He wondered if Yu wanted something, though if that was the case he could have just texted him. Out of curiosity, he decided to go along with it. “Sure,” he said, nodding, and Yu’s face brightened.

“Great!” Yu said. “I’ll go pay for my book and let you find yours. Meet you outside?” Ren nodded again, and they headed off in different directions.

It turned out the book Ren wanted hadn’t arrived yet, so he was empty-handed when he stepped back outside. Yu was waiting by the door for him. “Found the book you wanted?” he asked.

Ren shook his head. “Nah, wasn’t in yet.”

“Ah, that’s too bad. Hopefully it’ll be in soon,” Yu said. “Well, let’s go eat.” He turned to head down the street, and Ren followed.

They walked for a couple blocks, with Yu trying to talk about books, or school, or whatever else, but Ren gave him short answers that didn’t do much to keep the conversation going. When they were getting in sight of a food stall that smelled heavily of oil and hissed with the sound of frying things, Yu let out a heavy breath that sounded rather close to a sigh.

“You’re a lot chattier online,” he commented. When Ren only raised an eyebrow at the comment, Yu glanced at him sidelong and added, “And...in that last place we met up.”

Ren considered that, tilting his head slightly as he thought. He supposed it was easier for him to be open when he was being Joker, though it was hard to tell whether it was _because_ he was being Joker, or because he was just with his best friends. And he did consider Yu a friend, but perhaps he just wasn’t used to letting his guard down around him yet.

“Sorry,” Ren said, giving the man an apologetic smile. “Was there something you wanted to talk about?”

Yu looked almost puzzled at that. “Well, nothing in particular. I just wanted to spend time with you, get to know you better.”

Oh, that made sense. Mr. Friendship was just being friendly. Now he felt a little bad for wondering if the guy had an ulterior motive. In an effort to try and be a better conversation partner, he offered, “Let’s try some of those croquettes you mentioned. Got any recommendations?” Yu smiled at that and launched into an explanation on which of the stall’s flavors were the best.

Yu ended up getting a large order of steak croquettes, and when Ren saw they had curried croquettes he decided to try that. Morgana poked his head out of the bag to see what the stall had, but when he was there was no fish on the menu he ducked back in. The two orders were handed over in greasy paper sacks, so they could be eaten on the go. The pair of Wild Cards started wandering aimlessly, walking and talking as they ate.

Yu bit heartily into one of his croquettes, then had to blow out a few breaths to cool his mouth. “Ah, still hot,” he muttered around the mouthful of food. At the sight, Ren opted to let his croquettes cool off a little before trying one. After a few moments Yu was able to swallow and said more clearly, “They’re not quite as good as the ones back home, but these are still the best steak croquettes I’ve found in Tokyo.”

“You fond of croquettes, then?” Ren asked him, but Yu waggled his hand (which was still holding the croquette) in a so-so gesture.

“Sort of,” he answered. “More like I’m fond of home, and these remind me of it.” He took another careful bite of his food, and when he swallowed he added, “Even though I only lived there a year, it’ll always be home to me.”

Ren tilted his head quizzically at the comment. “Only a year? I would have thought home would have been wherever you grew up.” Ren was surprised when Yu snorted at that.

“My parents moved a lot for work,” Yu answered in a tone that sounded slightly bitter. “A year was one of the longest times I’d spent on one place. And they weren’t even there, I was staying with my uncle.” He stuffed the rest of the croquette in his mouth and chewed with his brow furrowed, though it had smoothed out by the time he swallowed. 

“There’s an English saying, ‘home is where the heart is,’” he said in a calmer voice. “And I have a lot of good memories about that town, and the people in it. Besides, it's where…” He trailed off, looking thoughtful, then glanced over to look Ren in the eye. “That’s where I had my journey.” He held his companion’s eyes for a long moment, making sure his meaning was understood.

Ren did get what he meant. A year of Personas, Shadows, making friends and forming bonds. The details would have been different (he’d never heard of a prior group of Phantom Thieves, after all), but the core elements would have been the same. And Ren had to admit, even though there’d been some rough parts of his stay in Tokyo, particularly in the beginning, he’d made a lot of unforgettable friends and memories. So he nodded, then decided to try one of his croquettes.

LeBlanc’s curry was still the best curry, but the seasoning on these wasn’t bad.

Yu was munching on another of his croquettes, so they walked in silence for the few moments it took him to demolish the fried treat. Then he said, “You know, it’s nice to meet someone else like me. There may be nobody else in the world who understands what we’ve been through.” He contemplated the contents of his paper bag before looking at Ren again. “If you ever want to talk about it, I’m happy to lend an ear.” His mouth quirked into a half-smile as he added, “I got to be a pretty good listener over that year.”

Ren mirrored the wry expression. Yeah, he’d gotten pretty good at listening too. And he hadn’t gotten to know all his confidants without recognizing when somebody had something they needed to work through. He hadn’t missed that moment of bitterness, and figured there was something deeper there that the man could stand to talk about. So he answered, “Alright, but same goes for you. If you need to talk about something, I’m all ears.”

Yu’s smile grew brighter and stuck out a hand. “Deal,” he said. Ren accepted the handshake, and even though it was greasy and full of crumbs, both their grips were firm. 

Ren felt a familiar, warm feeling grow within him while a voice that he was never quite sure he actually heard confirmed the budding bond, and the Arcana it represented. As the mysterious words died away, he found Yu was looking at him curiously.

“I felt that,” the older Wild Card said, his tone laced with surprise. “You just started a social link with me, didn’t you?”

Ren knew what he meant, but was unfamiliar with the term. He tilted his head and asked, “Social link?”

“A bond with someone, represented by an Arcana,” was the explanation.

“Ah, I call them Confidants,” Ren confided, which made Yu chuckle.

“Well, I suppose that fits your situation,” he said, and finally let go of Ren’s hand. “This is my first time on the receiving end of a link, so I can’t tell: what Arcana is it?”

Ren told him “World,” which made Yu grin. 

“Yeah that makes sense,” he said, nodding. “Well, now you _have_ to talk to me more. Gotta build those links, right?” The slightly twisted smile he gave this time suggested that he was making a private joke that nobody else would get. Which, honestly, was pretty accurate.

Neither of them mentioned any heavier topics for the rest of that day. They continued to wander, eating their croquettes and talking about more mundane things, like food and places to hang out. At some point Morgana stuck his head out again and Yu spent a while cooing over the cat. By the time they parted for the evening, Ren was feeling a lot more comfortable talking to him than he had earlier in the day.

**Confidant: Yu Narukami**   
**Arcana: World**   
**Rank: 1**


	2. The First Tale - Accusation and Abandonment

It was a couple of weeks before Ren and Yu managed to meet up again. In the intervening time, between investigating Okumura’s Palace, making preparations, sending the calling card and performing the heist, the two Wild Cards found time to chat online. Sometimes they spoke about mundane things, sometimes about general weirdness relating to being a Persona-user or Wild Card. (“Why is it that random foods turn out to be healing items in the Metaverse?” “I know! And you can never tell which ones, so I used to bring in a sack of random snacks and we’d try them all until we found out which worked.”).

After they’d successfully stolen the Treasure, Ren had some time to relax while they waited for Okumura to confess his crimes. As he considered how to spend his time one day, he ran through a mental check of all his Confidants. When he hit the link that had only just begun, he remembered Yu’s comment and found himself smirking. It was an accurate statement, he did have to talk to the man more to build their link. If he was free, now was as good a time as any for it.

Unlike Ren’s other Confidants, he didn’t know where Yu tended to hang out. He could wander around Shibuya and hope to bump into him again, but it seemed smarter to just text him. He pulled out his phone, wondering if he should come up with some pretext for spending time, then realized the man would probably see through to the real reason anyway. So he just shrugged and tapped out a text message.

**Ren:** Hey, if you’re free, wanna hang out today?  
**Yu:** Sure, I’ve got nothing planned. Anyplace in particular you want to go?

Ren had to think about that. He would have picked a place he knew Yu would like, but he didn't have a good idea yet of what the man liked besides cats and croquettes. He didn’t know any cat cafes, Morgana wasn't exactly a location they could visit, and spending every meeting eating croquettes would get old fast. So he opted for someplace they could have a conversation about potentially sensitive subjects with a low chance of being overheard.

**Ren:** How about Inokashira Park?  
**Yu:** Sounds good, I’ll meet you there.

\---

When Ren got to the park, Morgana chose to slip off, commenting “I’ll go for a walk until you’re done,” as he often did when Ren spent time with his confidants. After a few text messages to coordinate, Ren met Yu at one of the benches by the pond. Ren noticed that, as usual, Yu glanced toward his bag.

“Sorry, Morgana’s not with me right now,” Ren said. “He tends to leave me be while I’m spending time with my Confidants.” 

Yu’s smile diminished just a touch at that, probably out of disappointment at not getting to see the cat again. Ren decided later he’d post more pictures of Morgana in the cat chat to make up for it. Then Yu’s face took an understanding expression as he nodded. Perhaps he recognized from the mention of confidants that the purpose of today was to pursue that link.

Not that Ren was really sure how to do that. With his other confidants, they all had a specific purpose for meeting with him, a deal of some kind they were working on. Whenever he spent time with them, that purpose guided their interactions. But this time the “deal” was just...to talk to each other. Probably about the more supernatural aspects of their lives, and that was a subject that was not the easiest for him to broach, particularly in public. 

Ren realized they’d just been standing there and staring for a just little longer than was comfortable and offered, “Wanna go for a walk?” Yu nodded in assent, and they headed off down the path, giving Ren a little more time to get his thoughts in order.

Unlike their last meeting, this time Yu didn’t try to get a conversation going with small talk, and instead watched some ducks swimming in the pond beside them. This was more like their meeting at the Buchiko statue, with Yu waiting for Ren to bring up whatever he wanted to talk about. He just had to figure out what that was.

Was there anything in particular he wanted to know about Personas and Wild Cards and all that? He probably should have been thinking about this before, because now nothing was coming to mind right away. His mind fumbled along the path of Wild Card, Fool, Fool’s Journey...OK, that could be something to get started with.

“Hey,” Ren started, making Yu turn his attention from the ducks to look at Ren instead. “If you don’t mind, could you tell me a bit about how your journey went?” At Yu’s questioning look, he added, “I’m wondering how it compares to mine.”

Yu nodded and hummed thoughtfully as he considered the request. “Well, I don’t think I can give you too many details, since I wouldn’t want to influence yours. But I could give you the broad strokes.” Ren nodded back, accepting the offer, and Yu launched into his story.

The basic tale was that for his second year of high school, his parents were working overseas so he was sent to a small town to live with his uncle for the year. Shortly after he got there, there were a couple of murders with no visible cause of death, then he found out about that world inside TVs and his ability to enter it. There he gained a Persona, followed by some of his friends. A series of people were kidnapped and thrown into the TV world, he and his friends rescued them, they confronted their Shadows and gained their own Personas, and the cycle repeated several times while they tried to figure out who was doing the kidnapping, why they were doing it, and how they had access to the TV world. Eventually they figured out the identity of the person who was doing the kidnapping, but not before Yu's little cousin was kidnapped and thrown in a TV. They rescued her and got the kidnapper to the police, but she was very sick afterward. (Yu got a really sad look on his face at this point and had to pause for a moment to visibly collect himself. Might be something to ask him about later.)

When he and his friends went to talk to the kidnapper, it became apparent that the man wasn’t throwing people into the TV to hurt them, and actually thought he was saving him. Someone had led him to believe that was true, and they determined that person was the real mastermind behind the murders. They managed to figure out who _that_ person was, but when he saw he was found out, he escaped into a TV. 

Yu paused again before continuing. “And this is where I’ll have to get very vague, I’m afraid. In the end we tracked him down, found he’d been given his power to enter TVs by an outside force, and managed to bring him to the police. That outside force was really the one behind everything, so we had to confront it too.” He shook his head and smiled apologetically at Ren. “Sorry, but I don’t want to give any more detail on how the situation was resolved unless I know it would have no relevance to your situation.”

“Fair enough,” Ren said, mulling over the story. All in all it sounded very different from his own, but there was something in particular that stood out to him.”You confronted your Shadows? What do you mean by that?” he asked. When Yu looked confused by the question, he explained, “We never had to do that, it was more...well, Morgana called it a “spirit of rebellion.” We each had to realize there was something in our lives that was so unjust that we couldn’t let it stand anymore, and resolve to fight back against it.”

Yu tilted his head and considered this information. “I suppose that’s still a form of introspection and self-awareness, though with maybe a more violent bent than ours.” He felt silent, humming pensively before posing a question. “Are you aware that each person has a Shadow, one that’s different from the general ones that we fought together?”

“Yeah,” Ren answered, “we’ve encountered them in the Metaverse. They’re important to what we do.” Yu nodded, and Ren was glad he didn’t press for details. Even though he was an honorary Thief, he didn’t want to tell him the exact mechanics of changing hearts. The less people who knew that, the better.

“Well, when a person got thrown into the TV world, their Shadow appeared to confront them,” Yu continued. “That person came literally face-to-face with everything they didn’t want to admit about themselves, their insecurities and flaws. If they rejected it, which everyone did, it turned into an out-of-control monster we had to fight. But afterward, when they faced it again and accepted it, it turned into a Persona. Confront your weaknesses and accept them, then they become your strength.”

Ren nodded slowly as he digested this. He agreed with the insinuation that Yu's method of awakening a Persona sounded more about introspection than the Thieves'. Still…“Sounds less painful than our way of doing it,” he decided. “Those masks we have? When they appeared, they were literally fused to our face, and we had to physically rip them off to awaken our Personas. And the pain from that wasn’t even as bad as the mind-crushing headache that preceded it.”

Yu huffed out a burst of unamused laughter. “Physical pain might have been easier to bear than the emotional pain of facing your Shadow. There’s a reason why nobody accepted their Shadows at first; everybody breaks down when they’re slapped in the face with everything they hate about themselves. Even if you know it’s coming, you can’t easily accept everything you’ve been trying to repress for so long.”

Ren turned that information over. What you’re trying to repress, huh? He supposed he might know something about that. He’d tried to repress the humiliation of being falsely convicted, treated like a criminal, the rumors and threats to behave “or else”...tried to shove all that away and play the good student for a year. Maybe he wasn’t very good at repressing, because it only lasted two days after he got to Tokyo before he rebelled against it all. Then again, indignation wasn’t a fault, or something he wanted to avoid admitting about himself, so maybe it wasn't the same at all. What might his Shadow have to say about him?

"Maybe," he eventually conceded. "I doubt we want to argue who had a worse time of it, though. It hurt either way, but we came out stronger from it."

"That's a good perspective to have," Yu agreed, and left it at that. Instead he asked, "So aside from awakening, how does my story compare to yours, then?"

Ren ran through Yu's story again, matching up some points to elements of his own story. “There’s some similarities at the beginning, actually. You were sent to spend a year in an unfamiliar place, living with someone you barely knew?”

“Make that ‘didn’t know at all,’” Yu corrected. “I hadn’t seen my uncle since I was a baby, and I’d never met my cousin before, so they were basically strangers to me.” His expression turned fond as he continued, “But we grew close over that year. My cousin’s like a little sister to me now.”

Ren nodded. That made the similarity even closer, then. “I’m also spending a year in an unfamiliar place, under the care of someone I’d never met before.”

“Oh?” Yu said, in a tone of polite interest. “How come?”

Ren stared off down the path ahead of them as he explained, “I was falsely convicted of assault, sentenced to a year of parole and sent to Tokyo to live with a complete stranger while I'm serving it.”

It took him a few steps before he realized Yu was no longer walking beside him. In fact, he couldn’t hear the man’s footsteps at all. He paused to look around, only to find Yu had stopped stock still a few steps back, looking shocked. His expression slowly shifted to something a bit more stricken, and he hoarsely whispered, “I’m so sorry.” 

Ren struggled to identify the emotion in those few words. Sorrow was there, and his expression looked pained, but whatever else was going on there was harder to pinpoint. Sympathy? Regret? Anguish? Whatever it was, he meant what he said. It wasn’t the empty kind of “sorry” people tend to give when they heard something bad had happened and knew the polite thing to do was to express sympathy.

This was not a reaction Ren was used to. Most people, when they heard of his conviction, treated him like the criminal he was said to be. His friends had gotten angry or indignant on his behalf. His parents had mostly seemed disappointed with him. Surprise would at least be expected. But whatever else this was...he didn’t know how to face it. So he ducked his head and turned away, hiding his eyes behind his curly bangs.

He heard footsteps coming closer, then felt a hand on his shoulder. “Tell me about it,” Yu said quietly, a slight upturn at the end of the sentence. Half request, half question.

Ren hesitated, not sure if he felt comfortable sharing the experience. When the assault charge was first laid against him, Ren had told his side of the story to anyone who’d listen, hoping someone would believe him. By the time he’d reached Tokyo, it was evident that nobody did, or at least didn’t care, so he’d stopped trying. The only people he’d told lately were his fellow Thieves. Now that he found someone else who wanted to hear the story, why was it so hard to tell? Something about Yu’s expression at the news had unsettled him. But he was a friend, and Thief, and so he ought to know.

He kept his eyes fixed to the ground at his feet, took a deep breath to steel himself, then in a low voice began to tell the tale. About the drunk man, the distressed woman, trying to get her away, the man hurting himself and suing Ren, the woman being pressured to agree with the man’s story and the police going along with it, the farce of a trial, being sent to Tokyo to live with a complete stranger who made Ren live in the attic above his cafe…(He stopped himself before saying anything else bad about Boss. He’d been harsh at first, but he got better.)

Ren could have left it at that. That covered the story he’d mentioned a few minutes before. But it felt like the tale was only half-told, so he took another deep breath and continued. How at his new school, his teacher and principal had heard of his record, and warned him not to step out of line or he’d be out of there. That he’d expected. But all the students had heard too, which they shouldn’t have. A criminal record was supposed to be private, but someone had leaked it and everybody in the whole school knew, so he was surrounded by rumors and labels. Criminal. Delinquent. Violent. His life was in shambles, his reputation was shot, his future was questionable, and all because one man didn’t like being called out on his crime.

One more deep breath, then Ren finished with, "That's why we rebel. To get back at people who do this sort of thing, ruin lives and get away with it because the authorities can't or won't do anything about it. We’ve all been hurt."

He felt silent then. Yu hadn’t said a word through the whole story. A few times the hand on Ren’s shoulder had tightened for just a moment. Maybe in sympathy, maybe a flinch, Ren didn’t know. But that was the only reaction he’d given. Now the silence stretched on between them.

Then the hand on his shoulder tightened again and he heard Yu take half a step forward, only to pause. Ren had a scant moment to wonder what that was about before Yu asked, “Would you like a hug?”

Ren’s head twitched up, completely taken aback by the offer. It seemed Yu was the king of unexpected responses today. He felt like the idea ought to be embarrassing, but he couldn't bring himself to care about that just then. He kind of appreciated the gesture, so eventually he nodded. “OK, sure,” he muttered.

Yu finished his aborted step closer, half-turned to face Ren and wrapped his arms around the boy. After a couple seconds of awkwardly not knowing what to do with himself, Ren slowly hugged Yu back, then rested his forehead on the slightly taller man’s shoulder. If Yu found it uncomfortable that Ren’s glasses were digging into his collarbone, he didn’t react.

Neither of them moved for a while. Ren continued to feel awkward at first, before he realized it felt kind of nice and relaxed a little. How long had it been since he’d gotten a hug just for the sake of comfort like this? Not an arm thrown across his shoulders, not Futaba clinging to his back, not everyone grabbing everyone else in the excitement of a job well done...just this. He thought it had been long enough that he couldn’t remember a specific time that he’d last had this.

And what did it say about his parents that his first proper hug in who-knows-how-long was from someone he’d barely become friends with?

His best friends probably would have given him a hug if he asked. But he needed to be the leader for him. They didn’t need to see him like this. Yet Yu didn’t seem to have any expectations or judgements for him so...maybe it would be OK to relax with him just a little bit.

They couldn't stay this way forever though, especially not in a public place. So he spent a moment composing himself, taking in one long breath and letting it back out, before lifting his head off Yu's shoulder and releasing his hold, which prompted Yu to do the same. By the time Ren had taken a step back, he looked as at ease as when he’d stepped in the park. His only concession to what had just happened was a quiet “Thanks,” before he started walking down the path again.

Yu fell into step beside him, and they walked in silence for a bit, occasionally kicking at the leaves that were starting to litter the path now that the weather was beginning to get colder. Ren cast about for something a bit more positive to lighten the mood, and eventually said, “You mentioned you grew closer to your uncle and cousin over the year, right?”

Yu nodded. “Yeah, he was nice, but a bit of a workaholic, so I didn’t see too much of him at the start. That made it hard to get to know each other. But eventually I managed to spend more time with him and Nanako - that’s my cousin - and we all grew closer, with Nanako calling me “big bro” and my uncle treating me like a son.”

That sounded nice to Ren, and also a tad familiar. “Yeah, Boss - the guy who’s taking care of me - was pretty gruff when I got here. But he softened up, taught me to make coffee and curry in his cafe, and now his daughter is one of my best friends and feels like a little sister to me.” He could have left it at that, but for some reason his brain must have been stuck in over-sharing mode because he added, “Good thing Boss is looking out for me, because my parents aren’t. I haven’t heard from them once since I moved out here.” Then he clamped his mouth shut to try and keep from dragging the mood down any more.

Yu snorted mirthlessly. “Yeah, I didn’t hear from mine all year, either. At least my parents had an excuse; they were overseas, and international calls are expensive. But to not call even once?” He shook his head and sighed deeply, only to perk back up. "But that Boss sounds like a good man. I'm glad you ended up with someone who's taking care of you well." Then he raised a hand towards Ren, curled up as if holding the handle of an invisible mug. “Well then, here’s to found family who treat us better than our real family!” he declared, lifting the invisible drink in a mock toast.

Ren gave him a wry smile and lifted his own fist. “Here, here!” he agreed, and in lieu of clinking their mock glasses together, he gave Yu a fistbump.

Ren stayed silent for a while after that, letting Yu fill the air with adorable anecdotes about his cousin. It turned out to be impossible to feel down while listening about the little girl being a bright ray of sunshine. By the time they’d circled completely around the park, he’d managed to share a quip about Futaba and was feeling much more cheerful. It was late enough that they decided to go their separate ways for the evening, so Ren located Morgana and headed for the train station. 

**Confidant: Yu Narukami**  
**Arcana: World**  
**Rank: 2**


	3. The Second Tale - Blame and Doubt

The Thieves were looking forward to the day that Okumura confessed his crimes. Naturally, Haru in particular was relieved, and she chose to show her appreciation in a rather large way: by inviting all the Thieves to a private outing to Destinyland. And by “all” she meant _all_ , including Yu. When he tried to decline on the grounds that he hadn’t done anything, she insisted “You’re a Phantom Thief, and new Thieves get a welcome party. This celebration is in your honor as much as mine. And you wouldn’t be so rude as to miss a party in your honor, would you?” Since all the rest of the Thieves agreed with her (not to mention Haru threatened to have someone come kidnap him if he tried to refuse), he agreed to join them.

He definitely had a great time once he got there, just like the rest of the gang. Having the whole park to themselves was kind of strange, but it meant they could go on any ride they wanted immediately, so they covered a lot of ground. The evening was capped off a fireworks display and a lavish dinner, during which Yu managed to pack away as much food as Ren. The rest of the Thieves were astounded and slightly nauseated by the sheer volume of food the two Wild Cards managed to consume.

After such an incredible day, the cherry on top was meant to be the press conference where Okumura would confess his crimes. But as the Thieves watched on their phones, eager to hear him admit who was behind the psychotic breakdowns, the evening suddenly took a turn for the worse. Okumura unexpectedly convulsed, black goop running from his eyes and mouth before he collapsed.

The Thieves’ formerly good mood was shattered by cries of shock and alarm. What was going on here? How could this happen? They’d done everything the same, so why did he have a mental shutdown? They tried to figure out what could have gone wrong, but nobody had any answers. On top of it all, Ren had his own worries. Had he made the wrong call? By leading his team to this target, was he responsible for someone’s death? He kept those questions to himself, not wanting to add to the chaos, but they ate at him.

As the group milled about, scared and anxious, Ren noticed that Yu looked a bit confused and more concerned than scared, his eyes worriedly darting from teen to teen as they voiced their doubts. When Haru hurriedly left to go home, Yu hesitated for a moment before jogging after her, stopping her with a hand on her shoulder. He spoke to her briefly, his voice too low and the distance too great for Ren to hear what he said, then gave Haru a quick hug. Knowing Yu, he probably offered to talk if she needed it.

Ren soon found himself given the same treatment. The Thieves were in no mood to party anymore, and quickly left for home. As Ren headed towards the train station with Morgana huddled silently in his bag, he found Yu walking beside him. They trudged on in pensive silence for a while, during which Ren noticed out of the corner of his eye that Yu opened his mouth a few times to say something, then apparently changed his mind and shut it again. Eventually he asked, “How are you holding up?”

Ren didn’t know what to say, his mind just churning the same questions over and over, so he could only shake his head. 

“You wanna talk about it?” Yu persisted.

Ren appreciated that the man was trying to help, but he really couldn’t do this right now. He needed time to process everything. So he just said “Later.” Thankfully, Yu nodded and they traveled in silence for a while. 

It was late enough that when they got on the train to go home, the two of them were the only people in the car. Ren dropped into a seat and stared blankly out the window opposite him as Yu took a seat beside him. 

Neither said anything for a while, but after a couple of stops, Yu spoke up. “If you’re anything like me, you might be thinking that as the leader, this is your fault, that you made a mistake somewhere,” he said. “But it’s not. Sometimes things happen that are out of your control.”

Ren didn’t turn to look at him, just glanced at his reflection in the window. He noticed Morgana stuck his head out of the bag to look over at Yu, but he ignored the cat. Instead he asked, “How can you be sure? You don’t even know what we did, not really.”

Yu’s face tightened momentarily, almost a wince. It took a few moments before he replied, “You made the best decisions you could with the information you had, right? You can’t blame yourself for things you don’t know.”

But Ren could and would. If he didn’t know something, then he should have found more information. Maybe there was something he would have noticed if he’d paid more attention. And maybe he did have all the information but he’d made a bad decision with it. He didn’t want to have this conversation right now, so he just shook his head and wouldn’t say another word.

For the rest of the trip, the only sound was the clacking of wheels on rails and the announcer calling out the stops. Yu ended up staying with Ren as he changed lines, until finally he got to the stop for his house. When the train was pulling into Yongen-jaya, Ren stood up and saw Yu getting up to follow, so he finally spoke up. “This is my stop. I’m fine here, you go home.”

Yu didn’t sit down right away and studied Ren’s face instead. “You’re not fine,” he replied. “Call me later, OK? Whenever you want to talk about it.”

Ren really didn’t want to deal with this, so he just said “Fine,” which was enough to make Yu stay on the train when Ren slipped out the door.

\---

The next day at school, all the Thieves were distracted, their group chat filled with questions that didn’t have answers. Haru wasn’t at school or online, so nobody could ask her how her father was doing, or if there was a chance he’d pull through. Ren feared the worst.

That evening, he couldn’t focus on anything. He tried reading a book, but when his eyes only skimmed over the same page five times without absorbing a word, he put it away. He tried making infiltration tools, but his normally nimble fingers kept fumbling, breaking the delicate pieces and wasting materials, so he gave that up too. He considered playing a video game, but doubted he’d fare any better. Finally he admitted to himself that there were too many questions bouncing around his head to think about anything else, so he sighed and pulled out his phone to text Yu.

**Ren:** OK, I could stand to talk now. You free to meet up?  
 **Yu:** Sure, I’ll be right there. Where should I meet you?  
 **Ren:** I know a diner near me that’s not too busy this time of night.  
 **Yu:** Sounds great, what’s the address?

Ren gave it to him, and Yu promised to be there in about 15 minutes. As Ren headed through the cafe towards the door, he heard Morgana calling out to him. 

“Hey, you’ve had a rough day, you should stay in-” the cat started, before Ren cut him off.

“I’m going to talk to Yu,” he interrupted, glancing over at the cat standing on the steps to the attic. 

Morgana looked surprised, before his face softened. “Alright,” he conceded. “But don’t stay out too late. You need to get plenty of sleep for school tomorrow.” By now Ren was so used to the cat’s bizarre insistence on adhering to a strict sleep schedule that his only reaction was to wave a hand in acknowledgement as he headed out the door.

Ren got to the diner well before Yu, since it was close to him, and took a seat in a booth in a back corner. There were only a couple of other people in the restaurant, and they were far enough from his table that they wouldn’t be able to hear the conversation if he and Yu kept their voices down. Ren wasn’t really hungry, so he just ordered a soda and waited, trying to pull his thoughts into some kind of order so he could figure out how to talk about them.

He was still trying to get everything together when Yu arrived. With the diner so empty, the man spotted his friend immediately, and quickly took a seat opposite the boy. “Hey. How’re you doing?” he asked. From his tone, Ren guessed he didn’t mean it as a polite greeting, he actually wanted to know the answer. But Ren didn’t really _have_ an answer, though his mouth twisted as if he’d eaten something sour. 

“Come on, tell me what you’re thinking,” Yu urged. “It doesn’t have to make sense, just anything that comes to mind.”

Ren was spared from answering right away when a waitress arrived to take Yu’s order. He just got a soda too, so the waitress was gone in a few moments. As soon as she turned her back, Yu looked expectantly at Ren.

Anything that came to mind, huh? Ren looked down at his glass, grabbed for one of the thoughts tumbling around his head, and offered, “We messed up somehow.” Yu said nothing, so Ren tried again. “We did everything the same. At least, we thought we did. The result should have been the same as usual. But it’s not. So we messed up and now this is on us.”

“You can’t be sure it’s your fault,” Yu refuted. “Something out of your control could have happened when you weren’t looking.” 

“But we can’t be sure of _that_ either!” Ren said sharply. Then he winced, upset at himself for having suddenly gotten loud. Fortunately, the waitress arrived with Yu’s drink then, which gave Ren a moment to breathe. When she left, he continued, his tone low again. “If we made a mistake, it’s my fault, because I’m the one that told everyone to do this.”

“You can’t take responsibility for everyone’s decisions,” Yu told him. “Even if you’re the leader, they’re people with their own minds, not lifeless puppets for you to direct. I can’t believe none of them have any input on what they feel you all should do.”

Ren didn’t say anything, opting to take a sip of his drink to try and disguise his silence. Instead of letting the dead air hang, Yu pressed on. “Tell me, are you a dictator who has sole say in what happens? Or do you listen to everyone’s advice and suggestions and make the decision from there?”

Ren had to shake his head slowly at that. “No, we decide together. All our targets are chosen by unanimous decision.”

“There, so it’s not-” Yu started, but Ren cut him off. 

“But what does it matter if it’s _my_ fault or _our_ fault?” he asked harshly. “Either way, someone’s dead or dying because we messed up.”

Yu was quiet for a bit, idly swiping his thumb through the condensation on his glass before he spoke up again. “Everyone makes mistakes sometimes-”

“But have your mistakes ever killed someone?” Ren spat out.

Yu’s response was a deep sigh and a single word: “Yes.” 

Surprised, Ren looked up to find that Yu’s face looked incredibly sad. He was wondering whether to ask what happened when Yu quietly started to offer the information. “Remember when I told you about my cousin who got kidnapped, thrown in a TV and ended up really sick? She actually died.”

Ren didn’t know what to say. ‘I’m sorry’ felt hollow, and repeating the same kind of things Yu had just been saying to him, like ‘It wasn’t your fault’ seemed in bad taste. The only thing he could manage was a quiet “...Oh.”

Yu sighed again and kept talking. “The TV world kind of drained at you, and it got worse the longer you were in there. Everyone who we rescued ended up tired or sick afterward and had to recover for a while. But Nakano had it worse than anyone. She was so weak she ended up in the hospital for a long time. Maybe because she was so young, it hit her harder than most. She was only 6.” His voice hitched at that last bit, and he had to pause to take a deep breath before continuing. 

“No matter what the doctors did, she didn’t get better. And then she suddenly got worse. I rushed to her side, but all I could do was hold her hand as she stopped breathing.” Yu dropped his head to rest his face in one hand, his elbow propped on the table. “She’s like a sister to me. I had to watch my little sister die because I wasn’t quick enough to save her, or to figure out who was behind the kidnappings, or that she would be targeted next.”

Ren’s mind flashed to his own like-a-sister. He pictured Futaba in a hospital bed, struggling to breathe, and then a heart monitor flatlining...his breath caught at the thought.

Yu wasn’t done yet. “The guy who’d kidnapped her was in the same hospital, so we ran off to confront him. His room had a really big TV in it. It was so, _so_ tempting to just throw him in, to get back at him for what he did to Nanako by doing the same to him. It would have been so easy, and half my team was all for it.”

Ren thought about what would have happened then, and his eyes widened when he realized Yu had been seriously considering murder. And he probably would have gotten away with it, if nobody could prove anything about that TV world.

Yu rubbed his face before looking up at Ren. “Thankfully, I didn’t. Instead we talked to him, and figured out who was _actually_ behind everything. If we hadn’t, if I’d given in to grief and went for petty revenge, then the whole world would be consumed by fog now and we’d probably all be dead.”

Ren needed to say something. He struggled to find something meaningful to say, but only managed, “That’s rough.” Then he had to suppress a wince at how bland the comment was. He wondered if he should try giving Yu a hug to make up for it.

Yu nodded, and said offhandedly, “It's a miracle that she survived somehow.”

“What?!” Ren yelped, suddenly feeling betrayed that he’d gotten so emotionally involved in a death that apparently hadn’t even happened. He glared accusingly at Yu, who sat straighter and hurriedly clarified.

“Oh! Sorry, I didn’t mean to sound misleading. She did die, vital signs all stopped completely, and stayed that way long enough that even if she’d been resuscitated, she should have suffered permanent brain damage, and probably even be left in a coma for the rest of her life.” His voice dropped to a low, bitter tone as he added, “Not that the doctors even tried to resuscitate her. They just left her there…” He shook his head and continued in a more normal voice. 

“But somehow, when we were off talking to the kidnapper, she revived, apparently spontaneously. She was still weak and stayed in the hospital for a long time, but her mind is as sharp as ever, and she made a full recovery. Nobody has ever been able to figure out how or why.”

Ren supposed the point was valid that Yu saw her die and that would have been hard on him, but he still felt that he’d been tricked. His glare lightened, but not by much.

Yu fidgeted with his glass, took a sip from his drink, then said, “It goes to show that sometimes things happen that there’s no explanation for. Sometimes they’re good, like with Nanako. Sometimes they’re not, like yesterday. Either way, if you beat yourself up over them, you’ll only drive yourself crazy.”

Ren was feeling contrary now, so he retorted, “And sometimes it means there is an explanation, and you just don’t know it yet. We’ve done plenty of stuff that nobody can explain because they just don’t know what we do.”

Yu nodded. “A fair point. And looking for an explanation is far more productive than blaming yourself.”

Ren didn’t want to admit Yu was right, so he changed topics to dig at the man. “So your greatest failure was nullified when the person whose death you were responsible for just happened to get better?”

Yu looked uncomfortable at the question. “I don’t know if I’d call it my greatest failure. It might have hurt _me_ the most, but there were other people who were hurt or killed because we couldn’t figure things out fast enough. Like my uncle, Nanako’s dad. He got seriously injured chasing down the kidnapper, and had to stay in the hospital almost as long as his daughter.” 

He looked down at his glass as he continued quietly, “I still don’t know if that’s the way things had to happen, if that’s the path my journey had to take, or if it could have been prevented. Maybe if I’d trusted him and told him the truth about what we were doing earlier, we could have figured things out before they got that far. He’s a police detective, he probably would have been able to help our investigation. Then again, maybe instead he could have decided I was crazy, had me locked in a psychiatric hospital, and then there would have been nobody able to stop the one behind everything.” He shook his head and looked back up at Ren. “There’s no way to know for sure how things might have gone if you made different decisions.”

Ren wanted to stay upset, but Yu was being too reasonable. Instead he sighed and gave up. So where did that leave him? He took a long pull at his soda as he considered his situation.

Okumura was still dead, and they didn’t know why or how. He and everyone else was still upset about that, and no amount of logical advice would stop that, especially for Haru. He should probably talk to the team, her especially, to figure out how they were feeling and what everyone wanted to do. He wasn’t sure when Haru would be willing and able to talk, considering she’d been out of school and offline all day, so they’d probably have to wait for her.

After he’d been staring thoughtfully at his glass for a bit, Yu asked, “So how’re you feeling now?”

Ren considered the question, and answered, “Better, I guess,” which made Yu smile a little.

They sat in silence for a bit, sipping at their drinks for the sake of something to do, before Ren decided he had nothing more he wanted to talk about right now. So he said, “I should probably get going. Morgana’s a real stickler about bedtimes, like an overbearing parent.”

Yu chuckled. “More like a purrent, right?” Ren stared blankly at him, which made Yu hurriedly say, “Ah, sorry. When you said overbearing, it reminded me of a friend of mine who makes bear puns constantly. I felt compelled to make a cat pun instead.” Ren stared a bit longer, then just shook his head and went to pay for his drink.

At least the talk had shaken Ren out of the depressive blame spiral he’d been stuck in. Next time he met with the Thieves, he’d be able to think more clearly to help figure out where they should go from here.

**Confidant: Yu Narukami**  
 **Arcana: World**  
 **Rank: 3**  
 **New Ability: Empathy - During Shadow negotiation, chance to gain insight on what response would be most persuasive.**  
[Game mechanic: The best response may be highlighted yellow]


	4. The Third Tale - Fear and Masks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The themes are getting heavier now, so I’m switching this fic to a T rating.

Akechi was a lying, two-faced snake in the grass.

The so-called “second coming of the Detective Prince” had blackmailed the Phantom Thieves into working with him, weaseled his way onto the team, strong-armed them into going after Sae’s Palace, ordered them to go after the Treasure on a specific date (no doubt so that he could get his own plans in order), and for the cherry on top of the shit sundae, he was planning to capture and kill Ren at the end of it. And they had to go along with it all, to pretend they completely believed everything that smug bastard said, so they could figure out who he was working with, because whoever he was taking orders from must be even worse.

Of course the Phantom Thieves had made a counter-plan, in order to trick Akechi, save Ren and evade suspicion long enough to give them time to figure out who that higher-up was. But Ren wasn’t stupid. He knew how much of a risk the plan was, how if any one of the many pieces in play didn’t work just right, the whole thing could fall apart and he’d end up dead.

And Ren was terrified.

But no matter how much he wanted to insist he couldn’t go through with it, that they had to find some other way, or to just cut to the chase and confront Akechi before the heist, he knew he couldn’t. The plan was their best chance. So he had to pretend that everything was fine and keep playing it cool for everyone: Akechi, the Thieves, Sojirou, his teachers and confidants...he couldn’t even drop the act in his own room, because Morgana was always there. So he just tried to shove the fear deep inside himself where nobody would see, but it was slowly eating at him. 

He did realize that there was one person that he could relax and talk to about this, but he was actually having trouble working up the nerve to contact the man. He distracted himself with schoolwork, making preparations, training in Mementos, meeting with his confidants, working his many part-time jobs, anything to take his mind off. But as the days ticked by until the date when they’d go for the Treasure, more and more often Ren found himself looking at his phone and thinking maybe he should ask Yu to meet up. 

One day in the early evening, he’d just gotten off an afternoon shift at the flower shop and was heading through the station square to go...somewhere, he hadn’t decided where yet. Maybe Leblanc, he could make some coffee or curry to bring along on their next trip to the Metaverse. Then again, would he call for a Metaverse trip in the next couple days, or would the food go bad before they could use it? He was so caught in his thoughts that he nearly ran into someone, but hardly noticed until a familiar voice said, “Woah, careful there. You may want to watch where you’re going.”

“Sorry,” Ren said on reflex as he looked up. Then blinked a couple times in surprise at seeing himself face-to-face with Yu.

Yu was smiling warmly as he said, “It’s good to see you again. How’re you doing?”

Ren was torn between giving the typical answer of ‘fine’ or actually being honest with his friend, so he ended up just shrugging and saying “eh.” Then quickly, before he could second-guess himself, he said, “Actually, I’ve been meaning to talk to you. You got time?”

With a nod, Yu said, “Absolutely. Would you like to go somewhere?”

“Somewhere we can’t be overheard,” Ren replied, looking around the crowded square. Then he dropped his voice to a near-whisper, leaned closer and added, “It’s kind of sensitive.”

Yu looked a little concerned at that, but hummed thoughtfully. “Inokashira Park?” he offered. “It shouldn’t be too busy, now that the weather’s getting colder. And if we pick an open spot, we can see people coming from a long way off.”

Ren considered that. It could work, but…”I don’t feel comfortable talking about this in someplace so open, though.” He grimaced a little. “Sorry.”

“No that’s fine,” Yu said with a shake of his head. “Let’s see...how about a karaoke booth? That’s private, and I know a good place where the walls are soundproofed pretty well.”

“That sounds perfect,” Ren said. He couldn’t help remembering the time he and his friends had gone to karaoke and they had to listen to someone’s tone-deaf screeching the next booth over. Hopefully Yu knew a better place.

Yu lead the way, and soon Ren found himself in front of an unfamiliar karaoke place. He nudged his bag in a meaningful way, and Morgana stuck his head out. Typically the cat would just slip off at that signal, but this time he asked, “Would you like me to stick around?”

Ren had long learned not to look at Morgana when he was talking to the cat in public, so he pretended to read a sign as he said quietly, “No, it’ll be fine.”

“Hmm. Alright,” Morgana said, tone sceptical, but he slipped out of the bag and padded off.

Yu and Ren went in, and as soon as they got to their booth, Ren flopped onto the couch and sighed. Yu looked at him a moment, then said, “I’m going to get a drink. Want me to bring you one?”

Ren appreciated the obvious attempt to give him a moment to collect himself. “Sure, anything’s fine,” he answered. Yu nodded and left, leaving Ren in a silent room. Either the soundproofing in this place really was good, or there was nobody in any of the surrounding booths. Either way, that worked out well for them.

He slumped deeper into the couch, trying to make himself physically relax as he got his thoughts in order. He had a good few minutes to sort them out before Yu came back and set two glasses of soda on the table, then sat down on the couch opposite Ren. He waited silently for Ren to begin, and the boy noticed that his senior had gotten the expectant-but-not-pushy look down pat, perfect for getting people to open up to you. As expected of someone who had to spend a year working through all the problems of his confidants. Or social links. Whatever he called them.

He was getting distracted. Ren sighed and sat up, then began, “So I wanted to talk to you about the plan, the one for the end of this Palace.” Yu frowned a little, and when Ren realized what that might sound like he was intending he hurriedly clarified, “I’m not asking you to help with it or anything, I just need to talk about it. Maybe for input, but mostly to vent or something.” Yu’s expression cleared and he nodded, then continued to wait silently.

“So, in order to explain the plan right...how much do you understand about the whole stealing hearts bit?” Ren asked. “I know we never explained it straight out, but we’ve been talking about it pretty freely in the group chat.”

Yu pulled an uncertain face and waggled his hand in an iffy sort of gesture. “I can’t say I understand it that well. I’ve been trying to just skim over the chat whenever it looks like you’re talking about that business. I figure the less people who understand how it works, the safer it is for you.” He looked pensive for a moment, then added, “I can recognize some of the terms you use, like Palace and Treasure, but I’m not sure I could define them.”

“Fair enough. Being cautious is not a bad idea, and it’s not like you need to understand how it works,” Ren agreed. “But do you mind if I explain it to you now? I don’t mind you knowing, and talking about the plan won’t make much sense otherwise.”

Yu hesitated, then nodded. “Fine with me. But we may as well make it harder for anyone else to overhear.” He grabbed the remote for the karaoke machine and selected a song at random. As the music started up, he also moved around the room to sit beside Ren. “Now you won’t have to talk so loud,” he said quietly.

That brought a wry smile to Ren’s face. “You’re a lot smarter about this than Ryuji. He keeps talking about how we’re Phantom Thieves at the top of his lungs in public places, no matter how often we tell him to keep it down.” That made Yu chuckle, but he didn’t comment, just waited.

So Ren gave him the general rundown about how the Metaverse and Metanav worked, about Palaces, stealing distorted desires and how cognition affected just about everything in the Metaverse. Yu didn’t seem to have any trouble following the explanation.

With the easy part done, Ren took a gulp of his soda to wet his throat, while the song finished playing and Yu picked another one. “So…” Ren continued slowly. “You’ve probably noticed that Akechi is planning to betray us all at the end of the Palace, aiming to capture and kill me. And we’ve worked out a plan to trick him and get me free.”

Yu nodded solemnly. “Hard to miss that, though again I tried not to pay attention to the details. Some days I’d just scroll through the chat without reading a word, just to get rid of the ‘unread message’ notification.”

Ren _had_ noticed that Yu hadn’t posted much in the group chat lately, which was reasonable. But it did mean he’d have to explain the plan in its entirety. So he took a deep breath and began. How they were going along with Akechi for now, Ren would allow himself to be captured, they’d use some very useful properties of Sae’s Palace to trick Akechi into killing a cognitive double, and then get Sae to sneak him out. If you just looked at it step by step, it sounded almost reasonable. 

“...And that’s the idea,” he finished. “It’s the best we can come up with right now, and if everything works right, I’ll get out scot-free and it’ll give us time to figure out who’s pulling Akechi’s strings. But do I realize that it puts me in a lot of danger.” 

His voice started to pick up in intensity as he got to the heart of the matter. “I’ll be completely on my own from the moment we split up in the Palace. Deliberately getting myself captured and putting myself at the mercy of the mastermind is a big risk. Not to mention getting the timing right on pulling Akechi into the Metaverse is going to be tight. And if we get anything wrong, we know for sure that Akechi is going to kill me. I’ll literally be facing death the moment I fall into their hands. So you can imagine that I’m _just a little freaked out about all this._ ” 

He’d finally admitted it out loud. It felt good to say it, but it also made it more real. Harder to shove down and ignore. His breathing started to come a little quicker as all the worries started bouncing around his head.

Feeling an arm suddenly slung across his shoulders derailed his thoughts. Yu hadn’t said anything through the whole explanation, just silently picked another song when the last one ended. But Ren could feel the silent ‘Calm down’ in the gesture, and the weight on his shoulders helped ground him so he could push past the worry and get on with what he wanted to say. He took another gulp of his soda before continuing.

“Yeah, we’ve accounted for everything we know about. But what if there’s something we don’t know? Like with Okumura. We thought we’d done everything right, and then something we never expected happened and led to the worst possible outcome.” He grimaced at the memory, at how freaked out everyone was, and he knew they would feel so much worse if that happened to him. “There’s so many ways this plan can go wrong. Which is why I can’t let any of the rest of the team take the fall.”

He shook his head and let out a long, slow breath. If there was any way it was a viable option, he knew any of his friends would volunteer in a heartbeat. It almost made him glad that they didn’t have a chance to offer. “Even if Akechi didn’t know ahead of time that I’m the leader, I couldn’t let any of the others try to play the role. I _need_ to make sure they’re safe, in and out of the Metaverse. So I _have_ to be the one to be chased and captured and interrogated and threatened, so that all of them can get away.” 

For the first time in a while, Yu responded. He sighed and said quietly, “Being the leader’s tough. If any of your team get hurt, you feel it’s on you, no matter what anyone else thinks.”

Ren nodded at how exactly right that was, and said, “Which means I have to pretend that everything is fine, that I’m sure this will work and there’s nothing to be afraid of. All so nobody tries to talk me out of it, or messes up their roles, or gets too stressed out. I need them all to be OK with this. I have to do this, for their sake.”

“So you can’t tell them any of this, in order to keep up the facade, right?” Yu asked. Ren nodded again, and the arm on his shoulder tightened briefly, in a sort of one-armed, sideways hug. “Well, I’m glad you trust me enough to tell me. Telling your worries to anyone can make them a little bit more bearable.”

Yu fiddled with the remote for a moment, his face thoughtful, before saying, “I know it’s tough wearing that kind of social mask all the time. And for better or for worse, we Wild Cards have to be adept at switching personas whenever the situation calls for it, both in and out of battle. The confident leader, the dutiful student, the unassuming family member, whoever our social links need us to be…It can be draining to keep it all up.” He chewed his lip for a moment before adding, “It can help a little if you can find time to do something with no expectations, so you can do something without having to be someone for anyone else. I liked fishing, or folding origami cranes. I found them relaxing.”

Ren tilted his head as he considered the suggestion. He could try going fishing sometime soon, see if it helped. If he was left waiting for a bite for too long, he might get caught in his own head again, but with his Third Eye he was pretty good at targeting the fish.

He kind of wondered what else Yu might have had to face, and maybe talking about something other than himself would get his mind off things. So he asked, “Hey, have you ever had a point where you had to put on the mask of a confident leader when everything wasn’t fine?”

Yu hummed pensively at the question, and after a moment said, “Well, there were a few times, though nothing as dramatic as what you’re facing now. At one point in the middle of the investigation there was a sudden murder, the body hung up like the previous ones. But there were elements of the situation that didn't line up with previous cases.” He shook his head and continued, “We were all confused and upset that someone had died anyway despite all we’d done. But I had to keep calm to help everyone stay focused. Eventually we figured out this death was caused by a copycat killer looking for attention. There were no clues beforehand that he was going to do something like that, so we couldn’t have known to try to stop it.”

Ren thought that sounded a bit familiar. “I guess that’s more like our case with Okumura, then,” he observed. Yu nodded at that, then grabbed his soda and took a swig of it. “Was he someone you knew? The guy who died, I mean.”

“Yeah,” Yu answered, idly tilting his drink a bit to let the ice clink against the glass. “He was my homeroom teacher, though he wasn’t a very nice person. We called him “King Moron” for a reason. Doesn’t mean we wanted to see him dead, though.”

Ren supposed that might have felt a bit like when they heard Principal Kobayakawa died. He’d been a self-centered jerk who pushed an unreasonable amount of his work on Makoto, but they hadn’t wanted him to die, either.

Yu continued, “So, another time I had to be the leader and hold it together for everyone else’s sake was when we faced the kidnapper. When I and half my team were riled up and wanted justice, I had to calm everyone down so we could figure out the truth. It was the one and only time I yelled at them all, because I needed us all to take a step back and look at things clearly.” He chuckled at the memory, though he didn’t look particularly amused.

Ren looked at him in wide-eyed mock shock. “Really? Mr. Perpetually Calm yelled at someone? Color me surprised.”

Yu laughed at that, and it sounded more genuine. “It’s true. The shock of it probably helped get everyone’s attention.” He got more serious as he said, “But the time it was hardest to keep the ‘everything is fine’ mask on wasn’t when I was being a leader, but a family member. It was when I was visiting Nanako and my uncle in the hospital. Mostly in the time before she died, when she wasn’t getting any better and we never knew if she would. But I had to pretend for both their sakes that Nanko was doing fine and was going to get better, so they would stay strong and not worry too much.” 

Yu looked down at his free hand, turning the remote over and over. “It worked better on Nanako than my uncle. She was young and trusted me, so if I said she was going to be alright, she believed me. Or at least I think she did. But my uncle is smart and it’s his job to look at the facts and figure out what they mean. To make things worse, his wife had died in a car accident a few years prior. It would break him to see Nanako die, too. Which she then did.” Yu sighed and concluded, “If she hadn’t gotten better...well, it’s possible I wouldn’t have an uncle right now.”

Ren’s mind flashed to the sigh of Suzui standing on the edge of the school roof, and his breath caught. “You mean…” he started to say, but faltered when he didn’t know how to phrase it.

Yu glanced up at him, then clarified, “Oh, I don’t think he’d take his own life. Not intentionally, anyway. But he was definitely a workaholic, and a little bit of an alcoholic as well. He probably would have ramped up both of those, slowly destroyed himself from the unhealthy lifestyle and died of overwork, if not alcohol poisoning. Maybe also malnourishment, since he couldn’t cook and only ever got takeout.”

That was a fairly detailed scenario, and didn’t seem like something he’d thought up at the spur of the moment. “You’ve thought about this a lot, haven’t you?” Ren asked.

Yu hesitated, then nodded. “I know it’s not healthy to get caught in what-ifs. Especially since the incident that could have caused the hypothetical situation is long past, and will never occur again. So I try to forget about it. But every once in a while, it comes to mind.”

Ren thought about that. His life was full of what-ifs right now, even though they were about the future instead of the past. Didn’t mean thinking about them was any healthier. 

He started to raise up the arm closest to Yu, but as soon as he started to shift, Yu tried to lift his arm off his shoulders. Ren’s other hand shot up to grab Yu’s wrist and keep the arm where it was, as Ren finished lifting his arm to drape it across Yu’s shoulders.

“Tell you what,” the thief said. “I’ll try not to get caught up thinking about what _could_ happen if you try not to think about things that will _never_ happen.” It was easier said than done, and Ren wasn’t sure he’d be able to manage it, but he could try.

Yu smiled just a little at that. “Sounds good to me.” Instead of a handshake, they sealed the deal by squeezing each other’s shoulders.

They both were silent for a time, and opted to sip at their drinks. Then Yu glanced at his watch and noted, “We still have a bit of time reserved. Want to try some actual karaoke, instead of just listening to the music?” Ren thought that sounded like a pleasant distraction, so he agreed.

They both proved to be pretty good at it, though they had different styles. Ren leaned into his overwhelming Charm, but Yu proved to be a master of Expression. They only got to sing a few songs before their time was up, so they opted to extend it another hour. By the time they left, Ren was feeling more relaxed than when they went in.

Maybe distraction was the way to go for now. He’d try inviting some of his other friends to do some fun things over the remaining days before the heist.

**Confidant: Yu Narukami**   
**Arcana: World**   
**Rank: 4**


	5. The Fourth Tale - Hurt and Comfort

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We’re at the post-interrogation chapter. Which means we have trigger warnings for several forms of trauma: physical abuse, depression, disassociation, and a panic attack.

Everything hurt.

The plan for the end of Sae’s Palace had gone right, but also horribly wrong. They did manage to succeed at their goals, to trick Akechi into killing Ren’s cognitive double and persuading Sae to sneak the thief out. But Ren had not expected to be beaten and drugged until he passed out, then abused some more even before he was interrogated. His memory of the events in the interrogation room were hazy, and it was a small miracle that he’d remembered the plan just in time to convince Sae to show Akechi his phone. 

But it had worked. He’d been brought back to Leblanc, treated by Takemi (the only doctor he trusted at the moment), and allowed to sleep. When he woke up, he found Takemi had left some painkillers with very strict instructions on how much he was allowed to take. 

They only dulled the pain so much. Ren probably would have taken more than the prescribed dose if Boss hadn’t decided to keep the bottle of pills in his apron pocket, and only given Ren the correct dose at the specified times. 

So Ren found himself lying listlessly in bed in the t-shirt and sweatpants he wore as pajamas, without his glasses because he didn’t need them anyway. He tried not to move too much while fielding messages from his various confidants, assuring them that he was alive. When he wasn’t on his phone, or eating a little of the meals Boss periodically brought up for him, or occasionally sneaking down to the bathroom (when Boss and Morgana said there was nobody around), he was lying in bed. He’d stare blankly around the room, doze off for a bit, then wake up and go back to staring.

Everything hurt. Moving hurt. Eating hurt. Thinking hurt. He tried to do it all as little as possible.

Ren’s phone buzzed again. He didn’t feel like moving to deal with it, until Morgana looked up from where he’d curled against Ren’s legs. “Aren’t you going to answer it?” the cat asked. So Ren picked up the device and looked to see who was messaging him this time.

 **Yu:** I saw in the group chat that you’re home.  
**Yu:** They said you’re doing fine, but I want to hear it from you: How are you doing?

Ren was about to respond with one of the generic assurances he’d given everyone else who asked, but his fingers never even started typing it. There was no point, Yu would know better. Ren remembered Yu’s voice saying, _‘You’re not fine. Call me.’_ So after staring at his phone for several moments, he slowly started typing out a different message.

 **Ren:** Not good. I’m messed up right now.  
**Ren:** And before you ask, yes, I should probably talk about it.  
**Yu:** Want to call me? I have time right now.

Ren stared at his phone and considered dialing. But calling Yu felt wrong somehow. Maybe because they hadn’t talked on the phone before, just over text or in person.

 **Ren:** Maybe you should come here. I can’t go out, of course.  
**Yu:** Of course. What’s the address?

Ren gave it to him, and Yu promised to be there soon. So Ren dropped his phone and went back to staring. He noticed Morgana look up at him questioningly, so he managed to say, “Yu’s coming over.”

Morgana tilted his head at that, then said, “You’d better tell Boss. He doesn’t know Yu, so you should let him know that it’s OK to let him up.”

OK, then. Ren had no opinion on the matter, but he’d do what he was told. He started to get up, moving slowly to try and minimize the pain. Morgana hopped right off the bed and scampered down the stairs to check the cafe. By the time Ren was upright, Morgana was back and reported, “Nobody downstairs.”

Ren nodded dully and padded down the stairs, leaning on the railing for support. He stopped a few steps from the bottom when he could see Boss watching him from beside the counter and reported, “A friend of mine is coming over. You don’t know him. Yu Narukami, tall guy with grey hair. It’s fine to let him up, I trust him.”

Boss raised an eyebrow. “You sure about that? You know how precarious your position is now. The less people who know about you, the better.”

Ren nodded. “He knows everything.” Both of Boss’s eyebrows shot up at that, but Ren didn’t elaborate. Standing and talking hurt, he wanted to stop doing both. So he just turned to go back to his bed. As he headed up the stairs, he noticed Morgana race down the stairs past him, and glanced back to see the cat rubbing against Boss’s ankles. Nothing to do with him, so he kept trudging up.

He had to move slowly, knees creaking like an old man, so Morgana was back on the bed before Ren got there. He sat on the mattress and scooted backwards, resting his back against the wall below the window. After a few moments, holding his head up was too much effort, so he tilted his head back to rest it on the windowsill. The position got mildly uncomfortable after a little while, but it was nothing compared to all his other aches, so he didn’t bother moving. 

He stayed that way for an unknown amount of time, staring at the stars on the ceiling beams, until he noticed Morgana jump off the bed and run downstairs again. That alerted him there were voices downstairs. Boss and Yu, he realized dully. He didn’t care what they were saying, so he zoned out until he heard footsteps on the stairs. That prompted him to move, just enough to raise his head and meet Yu’s eyes as the man ascended into the attic.

Yu froze as soon as he spotted Ren, his eyes going wide. Then he continued up, quickly striding across the room to sit at the foot of the bed beside Ren. The end of the cheap mattress sinking down from Yu’s weight made Ren tilt in that direction. When he didn’t do anything to correct his balance, he ended up sliding sideways until he slumped against Yu. His neck ended up tilted at an uncomfortable angle, but sitting against someone was not unpleasant. So he closed his eyes and stayed there.

There was silence for a bit. Ren felt like he should say something, but didn’t. Eventually Yu asked, “What happened?”

Ren took a moment to muster up the energy to respond, and when he spoke, it was in a monotone. “Plan worked. World thinks I’m dead. Akechi thinks he killed me. I got home.” 

There were a few moments of silence, but Ren didn’t go into more detail. So Yu asked, “I can see that’s the result. But what happened _during_ the plan? How’d you end up like this?”

Ren didn’t want to answer. He didn’t want to remember. But the beginning of it started running through his head, the bright lights and loud clamor of the casino, running, dodging cops, getting caught...things got fuzzy there, and he let the memories slip away. “...Cops were not nice,” he finally said.

“The police did this to you?” Yu asked, his voice sounding a bit strained.

Ren only hummed vaguely and didn’t give a proper answer, so eventually Morgana spoke up, his voice coming from somewhere off to Ren’s left. “How much do you know about the plan? Ren said you know everything, but I don’t know what he means by that.”

“He did explain to me how the plan was supposed to go,” Yu answered. “Though only he could tell you if that was everything. So Ren, did you explain everything?”

Did Yu know the plan? Thinking about before was not so bad. Ren thought back to his last conversation with Yu, then muttered, “Yeah.”

Morgana hummed at that. Ren got the feeling Morgana was displeased with him. Then the cat went on, “Well, the plan worked as expected up to the point where he got captured. And then after a while he did get interrogated by Sae and everything from then on went as intended. But in between…” There was a pause before he finished quietly, “Well, Makoto called it ‘excessive use of force,’ ‘non-consensual drug use,’ and ‘confession under duress.’”

Ren felt Yu’s back stiffen. “They drugged him, too?” If Morgana responded, it wasn’t verbally. Ren felt the cat curl up against his side.

There was a moment of silence, then Yu asked, “Ren, are you asleep?”

“No,” he answered clearly. That was easy enough to answer.

Morgana gave more context. “He’s been sleeping a lot since he got back. And when he hasn’t been sleeping, he’s mostly been sitting in one spot, not doing anything.”

Ren felt Yu twist towards him a little. Then Yu asked, “How are you feeling right now?”

“Hurt,” Ren said immediately. It was so ever-present that of course it would be the first thing that came to mind.

When that was all he said, Yu asked, “What else?”

Ren actually had to think to come up with anything else. “Tired?” he eventually ventured.

“What else?” he was asked again.

Ren thought some more, but couldn’t think of anything else, so he just said, “Nothing.”

“Nothing?” Yu echoed, sounding surprised. “You don’t feel any emotions at all?”

“Guess not,” Ren said. Was that strange? He couldn’t make himself care.

More silence, and Ren felt Morgana press more closely against him. Then Yu asked, “How long have you not felt anything?”

Thinking about that was hard. Ren didn’t want to do it. So he didn’t bother, and just said, “Dunno.”

“Well…” Yu trailed off uncertainly before continuing. “Think about Morgana, the last time you saw him in the Palace. How did you feel then?”

Thinking about Morgana was fine. He pictured the little feline thief among the rest of the group in the casino, just before they split up. Joker was going to be the decoy, command their pursuers’ attention while everyone else escaped. Joker had felt a lot of things. “Confident,” Ren started. “Nervous, a little, but more excited. Eager. Sure that we’d pull it off.”

“OK, what about after that?” Yu asked. “When you split up, what happened and how did you feel?”

What had Joker done next? “Ran, as flashy as possible. Kept their attention while the rest escaped. Had a few close calls, but no real danger. Oracle gave directions. Got caught eventually, but was all part of the plan.”

“And how’d you feel?” Yu insisted.

Ren remembered the moment vividly, the feel of the mask on Joker’s face, the rush of running across light fixtures and hiding in shadows. The corner of his mouth twitched up just a little, a ghost of Joker’s smirk. “Cocky. Nerves weren’t fear, just a performer about to go on stage.” Joker was never afraid. “Played the part flawlessly. A little concerned about the team, relieved and proud when they got out fine.”

“And after you got caught?” Yu urged.

“Pinned down, cuffed, blindfolded,” Ren said. “Brought out of the Metaverse. Then…”

And then there was no Joker, only Ren. A boy with no mask to hide behind, alone and defenseless. With no way to resist or fight back when they came at him with fists and boots and needles. No one to help him when they demanded answers, then crushed him when he was slow to respond. No hope of mercy, no matter whether he screamed or cried or flinched from their threats. There was only pain and fear in a cold, dark room.

Ren was shivering and gasping for air now, trapped in the memory of being back in the interrogation room. Dimly he heard voices, but nobody had anything good to say in this place. He tried to curl up, hoping to find a little protection from whatever they’d throw at him next, and found he was leaning against something that moved. Then he felt arms start to wrap around him. 

Ren cried out, a wordless, strangled shout as he struggled against whoever was trying to grab him. He pushed himself away, tumbled off whatever he was sitting on and slammed into the floor. His various hurts flared up at the impact and he hissed in pain, curling up to try and guard himself against his assailants. And he waited there for them to come at him again, shivering, sweating, heart pounding and head spinning.

He noticed the voices were calling his name, over and over. What did they want with him? Then something soft pressed against his hand and he flinched away from it. But it came back, gentle and persistent. This feeling did not belong in that room. After a moment it seemed familiar. Something soft and warm nuzzling against him, smooth fur with a tickle of whiskers. Morgana. 

Morgana was one of the voices calling to him, high-pitched and worried. The other voice was familiar too, one he trusted. Low and insistent, one that reminded him of quiet stories and dry humor. Yu. 

“Ren! You’re safe, Ren. You’re home with us,” Morgana was saying.

“Ren, look at me. Come on Ren, open your eyes,” Yu urged.

Ren opened his eyes. Morgana’s black fur filled half his vision, the cat nuzzling against the hand that Ren had curled against his chest. Beyond him there was Yu, kneeling on the floor with a worried expression. His face lightened a little when Ren met his eyes, but not by much.

“Good,” Yu said. “Now Ren, who do you see here?”

Ren’s eyes flicked between the two figures in front of him. “You and Morgana,” he answered.

Yu nodded. “Good,” he repeated. “What else do you see?”

Ren glanced around and realized he was lying on his side on a wood floor. He couldn’t see much from his vantage point, but he named what he could. “Couch, table, shelf, box, TV.”

Morgana spoke up next. “And what do you smell?”

Ren sniffed in a deep breath and nearly sneezed. “Dust,” he said, nose wrinkling. “Coffee and curry.”

“So where are you?” Yu asked.

Ren looked at his friend and found he wasn’t shivering any more. “Home,” he answered.

Yu nodded. “That’s right. You’re home, you’re safe, and nobody’s going to hurt you.” He held out a hand and said, “Now how about we get you off that floor?”

Ren blinked and lifted his arm, Morgana stepping back so that Ren could reach out and grasp Yu’s hand. With the man’s help, Ren managed to shakily stand up, then sit back on the bed.

“I’m sorry,” Yu said when they were both settled, Morgana curled up on Ren’s lap. “I didn’t mean to upset you. I’m no psychologist, but I’m pretty sure not feeling any emotions isn’t a good thing, so I was trying to figure out why and what to do about it. There was probably a better way to handle it, but I didn’t know any.”

“It’s OK,” Ren said, idly running his hand down Morgana’s back. The cat didn’t protest, which he usually would at someone petting him without asking first. “I know you were trying to help.”

Yu shook his head, and looked like he was going to protest, but instead said, “And I should have guessed that trying to hug you when you were panicking would only make things worse. So I’m sorry for that too.”

“It’s fine,” Ren insisted. “I don’t blame you. It doesn’t sound like you have any experience with this sort of thing either.” When Yu still looked upset at himself, Ren offered, “I could use a hug now, though.”

That made Yu’s expression lighten. “Sounds good,” he said. He scooted a little closer and gently wrapped his arms around the bruised boy, clearly being careful not to squeeze too tight. Ren followed suit, embracing the man before resting his head on his shoulder. He had to lean over a little awkwardly to avoid crushing Morgana, but it was still the most comfortable he’d felt in days.

They stayed that way for a while, Ren enjoying the feeling of being warm and safe and cared for while Morgana purred against his stomach. Eventually Yu asked, “So how do you feel now?”

Ren considered that before answering, “Weak.”

“In what way?” Yu asked.

“Well, physically, for one. My limbs don’t have much strength in them right now.” He’d probably be feeling shaky if there wasn’t literally someone holding him up right now. “But also…” He sighed. He didn’t really want to admit this, but Yu felt safe to talk to. So he continued, “Like I let everyone down. Like I’m failing at being the strong leader that everyone needs me to be.”

Ren realized that Morgana sat up suddenly when the cat’s head bumped against his chest. “You can’t mean that,” his little friend said. “There’s no way you let us down. You’re still the strongest person I know! I don’t think any of us could have endured what you’ve been through.”

Ren shifted his head just enough to look down at the cat. “I clearly didn’t endure very well. I’m a mess. I mean, just look at me.” Morgana looked upset at that, but didn’t seem to have a response right away.

Instead Yu spoke up. “Let’s start with the physical, then. Have you gotten any medical attention?”

Ren nodded against Yu’s shoulder. “Yeah, there’s a doctor I trust who came to check on me.”

Morgana chipped in, “He’s been getting plenty of sleep, but he hasn’t been eating much.”

“Well, then it goes without saying that you need to eat more,” Yu said. “You can’t heal if you don’t get enough nutrition.” When Ren didn’t say anything, Yu persisted, “Come on, promise me you’re going to eat something. I can make you some broth or rice porridge if you need something simple.”

“It’s fine, Boss brings me food,” Ren answered.

“Can he make things other than curry?” Yu asked.

That made Ren huff out an almost-laugh. “Yes, he can make things other than curry.”

“You sure?” Yu insisted. “I’m pretty sure the menu didn’t list anything other than coffee and curry.”

“Just because that’s all he serves to customers doesn’t mean that’s all he can make,” Ren said. He was smiling now, not that Yu could see it. Then he decided he wanted Yu to see it, so he finally let go and sat back upright, prompting his friend to do the same. 

Yu looked Ren over, saw that he was relaxed and even smiling, and smiled back.

“That’s better,” Yu said. “Now then, do you think you can talk more about how you’re feeling?”

Ren’s smile disappeared and he looked down, but he nodded. “Yeah. I clearly need to do that, huh?”

“You don’t have to say any more than you’re comfortable with,” Yu assured him.

Ren nodded again, then resumed petting Morgana while he tried to mull things over. Thinking back on the events of the heist and afterward were still hard, but by focusing on the feel of Morgana on his lap and under his hand, he was able to remind himself where he was. It kept him grounded enough to start to sort through his thoughts. After a few moments he ventured, “I feel like it’s my fault I got hurt. If I just trusted my friends and told them how I’ve been feeling this whole time, maybe we could have worked out something else.”

Morgana looked up at him, surprised. “What do you mean? What haven’t you been telling us?” the cat asked.

Ren ducked his head a little more, not able to meet the cat’s eyes. “...I’ve been scared of the plan since we first came up with it,” he muttered.

“Ren…” Morgana said softly. “Why didn’t you say something? You can tell us anything.”

Ren shook his head. “Not about this. It was our best shot, and I had to be the one to do it. And I couldn’t let anyone else worry or we’d never pull it off.”

“But we don’t want you to worry, either!” Morgana countered.

“I’m the leader, worrying about you all is pretty much my job,” Ren retorted.

“Oh come on, that can’t be right!” Morgana insisted. “Yu, back me up here.” When Yu didn’t respond right away, Morgana looked up him. “Yu?” he asked, which made Ren look up at him as well.

Yu was frowning, a tired look on his face. “It shouldn’t be, but it certainly feels that way sometimes,” he finally answered. “Being the leader means you want to take care of your team, no matter what.”

Morgana looked up at him wide-eyed, then half-climbed off Ren’s lap to headbutt Yu’s hand. Almost automatically, Yu started to pet the cat’s head. Ren could still pet Morgana’s back and he didn’t mind sharing, so he let the cat be.

They sat there for a few moments, two Wild Cards petting a cat who purred soothingly for them. Eventually Yu spoke up. “Still, it’s not your fault you got hurt. Never blame yourself for something someone else does to you. It’s their fault, not yours.”

“Even when I knowingly walked into it?” Ren said.

“Even then,” Yu answered. “They chose to do it. You’re not responsible for someone else’s choices.”

“But I _am_ responsible for the choices of the people I’m in charge of,” Ren insisted. “If they get in trouble or make mistakes, I need to fix it.”

“To a point, yes, but you can’t do everything on your own,” Yu told him. “You can ask for help. And for people who _aren’t_ your responsibility, you’re not liable for a thing they do.”

Morgana was looking between the two of them, and asked, “Hey Yu, do you always talk to Ren about this kind of stuff whenever you meet up?”

Yu glanced up at Ren, then back at Morgana. “I wouldn’t say always, and things like...recent events wouldn’t have come up before,” he said. “But about leadership, how hard it is, and feelings...yeah, we do.”

Morgana turned wide eyes up at Ren. “You should have told us,” he said plaintively.

Ren couldn’t look him in the eye, and turned his gaze to look at the cat’s rapidly twitching tail. “Nobody else would get it,” he said.

“That doesn’t mean we couldn’t try,” Morgana retorted. “And we might get more than you expect. I mean, Makoto’s the student council president, she has to know something about leadership.”

Ren started to hunch in on himself. “But then everyone would know how weak I am, and they’d hate me,” he said quietly.

“They wouldn’t hate you,” Yu said, at the same time as Morgana yowled, “We’d never hate you!”

“I deserve to be hated. I’m not fit to be the leader,” Ren muttered, hunching further.

Morgana stopped him by sitting up his lap and headbutting his chin hard. “You’re the perfect leader. None of us could do a better job that you.”

Ren recoiled from the touch and looked wearily at the cat. “Makoto would be better-” he started, but Morgana never let him finish.

“She’s a great tactician, but she gets flustered far too easily when she encounters situations she’s unfamiliar with,” he retorted.

Ren paused, silently acknowledged that that was true, then countered, “You know more about the Metaverse than anyone-”

“And I already taught you everything I know,” Morgana insisted. “ _And_ you’re better at putting it to use than me.”

Ren considered the rest of his team. He had to admit that he couldn’t see any of them as leader for one reason or another. Though there was…”Yu clearly knows how this leadership thing works.”

“Only because I’m done with it,” Yu said. “I’ve already lead my team, and this isn’t my journey. It’s yours. Besides,” he added with a wry smile, “I kept having to make it up as I went along.”

“It has to be you,” Morgana insisted. “You’re perfect for it. You’re smart, brave, skilled, kind, and like any good phantom thief, incredibly suave. None of us could match you.”

Ren felt like he didn’t deserve the praise. He leaned back against the wall and wouldn’t look at anyone. “...Don’t feel like any of that now,” he mumbled. “Just a dumb, scared, mess of a failure.”

“Hey,” Yu said, reaching out to put a hand on Ren’s shoulder. “You’re doing great. You’re just at a rough patch right now, things will get better.”

“Any of the Thieves could tell you how great you’re doing,” Morgana said. “Just talk to us and you’ll see.”

Ren was silent, and after a moment Yu spoke up. “You really should talk to them all about how you’ve been feeling. Nobody will think less of you. In fact, confiding in them will only make your bond stronger.”

Ren looked over at Yu, then away again. It was true that a large part of his bond with the other Wild Card came from confiding in each other. In fact, most of the links with his Confidants involved them confiding in him, even if he rarely did the same. When he didn’t say anything, Yu offered, “I can help facilitate the discussion, if you’d like.”

They weren’t going to drop this, so Ren said, “I’ll think about it.” Yu hummed, but didn’t press the issue. On the other hand, Morgana looked up at him sceptically, and he had a feeling that the cat _would_ be pressing him about it later.

Instead Yu asked, “You said you’ve seen a doctor you can trust?” When Ren nodded, Yu continued, “You should talk to them about how you’ve been feeling. A proper psychologist or therapist would be better, but even a general practitioner should be able to help a bit with mental health.”

“How?” Ren asked.

Yu hesitated before answering. “Well...for one thing, if you need it, they might be able to prescribe medicine to help with anxiety.”

“That’d just prove I’m a failure,” Ren said bitterly. “What good am I if I can’t keep my own head straight without drugs?”

Yu squeezed Ren’s shoulder, which made Ren wince when the grip dug into one of his bruises. Yu hurriedly let go and said, “It would prove nothing, besides that you need a little help at the moment.” When Ren didn’t respond, Yu asked, “If you broke your leg, would you refuse to use a crutch to get around until your leg recovered?” Ren hesitated, then shook his head. “Well, that’s all this kind of medicine would be, a crutch until your mind recovers. There’s no shame in getting help when you need it.”

“And what if it never recovers?” Ren asked wearily. “What if I’m broken forever?”

“You’re not broken, and it's OK to keep getting help as long as you need it,” Yu insisted. “Talk to your doctor, and if they bring up medication, tell them your worries about it. They can help you make informed decisions about what’s best for your mental health.”

When Ren didn’t say anything, Morgana piped up, “You’d better talk to her, or I’ll keep bugging you every time she’s here.” Ren frowned at Morgana, who sternly glowered back at him. “I’m going to make sure you take care of yourself.” 

The cat could definitely be persistent when he wanted, as his insistence about getting enough sleep had proven. If he had his mind set on it, Ren wouldn’t be able to escape. So he gave up and nodded. “Fine,” he said. He was not looking forward to it, though.

Thinking about sleep seemed to remind his body that he was worn out, and he suddenly gave a huge yawn. As he blinked blearily, Yu gave him a sympathetic look. “You should get some rest,” the man said. “Sleep is important to healing, too.”

“You sound like Morgana,” Ren muttered, not really complaining, but it still prompted the cat to protest, “Hey!” 

Yu just chuckled and patted Ren on the shoulder. “I’ll get going, then. But call me any time, OK?”

Ren nodded, hesitated, then reached over and hugged Yu. “Thanks,” he said quietly.

Yu hugged him right back, and said “Any time,” just as softly.

Yu headed out then, leaving Ren to curl up under his blanket and fall asleep. When Boss brought up food later, it was rice porridge instead of curry, so Yu must have spoken to him. Ren made an effort to eat as much as he could, even though it still hurt. And when Takemi stopped by that evening, Morgana had to prod him a bit, but he did talk about how he was feeling. By the time she went home, there was another bottle of pills in Boss’s pocket, with even stricter instructions on how they were to be administered.

A few days later, all the Thieves did gather for that talk about how they’d been feeling. It turned out Ren wasn’t the only one feeling uncertain and inadequate, though everyone felt bad that they hadn’t noticed how much everything had been weighing on him. They all promised that from now on, they would never ignore when it looked like someone wasn’t feeling right, and they’d do their best to support each other.

 **Confidant: Yu Narukami**  
**Arcana: World**  
**Rank: 5**  
**New Ability: Support Network - Chance for party members to prevent any non-special status effect that affects the mind.**  
[Game mechanic: If any party member, including Joker, is inflicted with Dizzy, Forget, Confuse, Fear, Despair, Rage, or Brainwash, there is a chance that any other party member may immediately call out to them and nullify it.]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally I’d intended that when I got to this chapter, I’d post a note that said “This fic is now rated T for Trauma.” Then when I was writing the last chapter, I decided the themes were getting a bit too heavy to leave it at a G rating, so I switched it to T earlier than planned.
> 
> Also, I’m aware the effect of the Support Network ability is not the most original, basically a Harisen Recovery that only works for about half the status effects. But it felt thematically appropriate for this story.
> 
> And while I’ve done some research on mental health and how trauma effects the mind before writing this chapter, I can’t be certain the depiction is realistic. If anyone notices any inaccuracies, please let me know.


	6. Interlude

Yu had no particular plans for Christmas Eve. He’d bought some chicken the day before and was considering making fried chicken for dinner, but otherwise he intended to spend it quietly at home. He was sitting at his desk working on a paper for one of his classes when something in the air shifted. He sat up and looked around, trying to place the feeling. Nothing appeared to be any different from usual...except something on his desk was shining faintly from within.

He took a closer look at the object; a small sphere of what appeared to be crystal or glass, clear and colorless, about the size of a golf ball. It was the Orb of Sight, which he’d received as the culmination of his efforts to seek the truth back in Inaba. He had used it only once, in the fight against the goddess that tried to envelop the world in fog, and since then it had appeared to be nothing but a mundane trinket. He’d had a blacksmith in Inaba make a small metal stand for it, and kept it on his desk as a memento, looking like a tiny crystal ball. It had been simply a desk ornament for years. So why was it glowing now? 

Feeling a sense of foreboding, he reached out for the orb, determined to find the truth of the matter.

As soon as he touched it, the world shifted even more. It was similar to the feeling of entering the Metaverse or TV World, but without the strange ripples in the air. When everything settled, it seemed at first that nothing had changed. He looked around to find that his apartment looked the same as ever, though there was an unusual heaviness to the air. Then he glanced out the window.

Strange structures arced through the air, resembling curving spires of bone, with protrusions like ribs. A thick, red-tinged rain was falling, staining the buildings like blood. He stepped up to the window to get a better look, and found the rain and structures appeared to be all over the city. Yet when he looked down at the street, he saw that nobody seemed to be reacting to them at all. Yu frowned at that. Did they not see it?

Wondering if the Orb was responsible for letting him see these things, he put it down. The world shifted again, and the structures faded from view. When the world appeared the same as always, he was left only with a faint feeling that something was wrong. He took a deep breath and grabbed the Orb again (he was going to get dizzy if the world kept switching back and forth like that), then tucked the item in his pocket. When he withdrew his hand, his perception stayed the way it was, bone structures clearly visible. Good. Now to see if anyone else noticed this.

He tried calling Ren first, figuring the currently active Persona-users would be most likely to know what was going on with anything that was obviously supernatural. But the call just went to voicemail. He didn’t have the phone numbers for any of the other Thieves, so he couldn’t call them. He sent “What’s going on?” to the group chat, but didn’t wait for an answer. If something _was_ going on, they weren’t likely to be watching the chat.

Who else might know something? Rise or Naoto might be in Tokyo, and they were the next most likely people to be able to see what was happening. Rise was more likely to be busy with work, so he tried calling Naoto.

Yu was feeling slightly tense as he heard the phone ring twice, followed by, “Hello, Yu. It’s a pleasure to hear from you.” 

Yu let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding. “Hello, Naoto.” The situation felt a bit too urgent for pleasantries, so he went right to asking, “Hey, do you notice anything odd going on?”

There was a pause. “Odd? In what way?” asked Naoto.

Yu wasn’t sure if he should come out and say what he saw, so he started with, “Something doesn’t feel right. It’s kind of…” he he scrambled for something to explain the heavy feeling in the air, then settled on, “...a bit like when the fog was in Inaba.”

He heard footsteps on the line, then Naoto said, “I don’t see anything unusual outside, and I can’t say I feel anything of the sort, either.”

No good, then. Maybe only Yu could see it, because of the Orb. Or maybe…“Just to be sure, are you in Tokyo right now?” he asked.

“That is correct,” Naoto replied. “I’m near Akihabara at the moment.”

“Huh, that isn’t too close to where I am,” Yu answered. Maybe whatever was going on didn’t reach that far. “Maybe I’m just imagining things. I’ll let you know if I notice anything else.”

“Your insight is usually quite keen, so I have no doubt that something genuinely feels unusual to you,” Naoto said. “Do let me know if there’s anything I can do to help you investigate this.”

Yu had to smile at that. It was good to know his friend still trusted him, even though she didn’t notice anything unusual. “Will do. Bye, Naoto.”

After hanging up, Yu was considering calling Rise just to be sure, when he suddenly felt incredibly dizzy. He staggered, clutching his head, then glanced around to see what might have caused it. Nothing seemed to be any different, inside or outside the apartment. The dizziness wasn’t going away, so he tucked his phone in his pocket and tried to get to a chair to sit down, but his legs gave out after two steps. Now he felt incredibly weak as well as dizzy. Something was definitely wrong.

His mind was racing, trying to figure out what to do, when he noticed one of his hands seemed to be going numb. He glanced at it and stopped short, eyes growing wide, as he found that his hand had gone transparent. Before his eyes the transparency started to creep up his arm as his hand faded from view, emitting a faint smoke like a defeated Shadow disappearing.

Yu struggled to keep calm while his mind and heart were both racing. What was going on? Why was this happening? What could he do about it? But he could barely move and the dizziness made it hard to think, so he could do little more than grit his teeth in frustration as he faded completely from existence.

* * *

The first thing Yu became aware of was a sound that was familiar, but one he hadn’t heard in years: the distant, wordless melody of a woman singing endlessly, accompanied by a piano. There was only one place he’d ever heard that song.

When he blinked open his eyes, the space in front of him was blue, as expected. But it was not the interior of a limo, as he was used to. Instead, he appeared to be sitting in a small room, propped against a padded wall and facing another one. The floor below him felt like bare cement, and the room was tiny, with the floor extending barely beyond his outstretched legs before meeting the wall.

Blearily he looked around, trying to get his bearings. To his right the room continued a short way before concluding at another wall. To his left was a door made of metal bars, beyond which was a hallway that looked straight out of a medieval castle, all black stone with oddly red lighting. It seemed rather out of place if this was meant to be the Velvet Room. He couldn’t see anything else or hear anything but the ever-present music. Considering the barred door, small space and apparent isolation, he seemed to be in some sort of dungeon.

He stood up, finding he could move easily enough. His sudden weakness and dizziness from before were gone. On the off chance that it would work, he tried pushing open the door, but of course it was locked. Looking up and down the hall showed nothing but stone, and his cell was completely bare, without even a bed. He rummaged through his pockets and found he still had everything that was there before he’d disappeared, including his phone, keys, wallet, the Orb, and his TV World glasses, which he’d taken to carrying around out of nostalgia. But none of those appeared to be able to do anything in this place; the phone wouldn’t turn on, the Orb and glasses didn’t let him see anything different, and certainly none of his keys would work on whatever lock this door had.

He could feel his Personas and was considering attempting to summon one (Had he ever summoned a Persona in the Velvet Room? Could he?) when he thought he distantly heard voices. He froze, practically held his breath and strained his ears in an attempt to listen. There were definitely voices, more than one, but very distant. He couldn’t tell who was speaking, or how many were there. 

He leaned his forehead on the bars and focused on those voices, trying to pick out any details that might tell him if the speakers might be friendly or dangerous. At least one voice sounded very deep, and another was high, perhaps a child or a female. At one point the voices were raised, perhaps some sort of argument? Then they dropped to more conversational levels again. 

He was starting to become frustrated with his inability to hear anything useful when a new voice spoke up, once that he knew quite well. He still couldn’t necessarily make out the words, but from the familiar cadence, he could picture exactly what was being said, words he’d heard many times: “Welcome to the Velvet Room.”

Yu grinned. If Igor was there, then things would be alright. He doubted the Master of the Velvet Room would leave him here for long, so he leaned back against one of the padded blue walls and waited, humming along with the endless song to pass the time. Come to think of it, the padding felt a lot like the seats in the limo he was used to.

Once or twice he briefly heard voices again, then eventually he heard footsteps approaching. He smiled, stood up straight, and turned to face whoever was approaching. In a moment a black coat and white mask came into view, and Yu’s smile grew even wider. The eyes behind the mask widened as they spotted him, and the thief cried out, “Y-...Jack!”

“So we’re using code names,” Jack noted. “Hi, Joker. What’s going on here?”

Joker hurried towards the cell, saying, “Um, basically we all got erased from existence.” Yu waited expectantly, so Joker continued explaining. “Well, short version is we all went to the bottom of Mementos, found it was a prison full of the Shadows of people who no longer wanted to think for themselves. The place was centered around something that called itself the Holy Grail, and when we tried to fight it it made us disappear from Mementos and end up in Shibuya. Then the world and Mementos started to merge.”

Nodding, Jack said, “That would explain the red rain and the bone-looking structures.”

“So you saw them, too. Nobody else seemed to,” Joker said. Jack decided not to mention the Orb which let him see what happened, since it was irrelevant for the moment. The thief continued, “Anyway, we noticed people talking about the Phantom Thieves as if they were some made-up story from a while back, and then we all faded away, then ended up here.”

Jack nodded again. “That matches what happened to me, though I was in my apartment so I didn’t hear anyone talking.” He glanced at the blue wall beside him and said, “So judging by the color and the music, we appear to be in the Velvet Room.”

Joker shrugged at that. “More accurately, we’re just outside the Velvet Room.”

“I did think some of the aesthetic seemed a bit off,” Jack noted, indicating the red-tinged black walls.

Joker followed his gaze. “Well, aside from the color, the Room looks similar to this.”

“Like a dungeon?” Jack asked.

“Prison,” Joker clarified. At Jack’s aghast look, the thief said, “There actually may be a reason for that. So it turned out that the person I knew as Igor was an imposter all along. The real Igor had been imprisoned and that Holy Grail disguised itself and took his place, so it’s been messing with me the whole time. Since the Grail might have made the prison part of Mementos, then it would make sense if it made the Velvet Room look like a prison too.”

Jack nodded slowly. “I didn’t expect that anyone but the Velvet Room’s guest could influence the shape of the Room, but then again I never would have expected Igor could be overwhelmed and imprisoned. But he’s back now, right? I thought I heard his voice.” At Joker’s nod, Jack gave him a relieved smile.

“Hey, what did your Velvet Room look like?” Joker wanted to know.

“Oh, it was a limousine that was traveling endlessly through fog,” was the older Wild Card’s answer.

“Wow, that sounds way better. I wonder if they’re usually that nice,” Joker commented. Jack could only shrug.

“So, any chance you could unlock this door?” the man asked, tapping on the bars with one finger.

Joker looked uncertain. “Well, when I found some of the others, they all had lost their will to fight. Once I helped them remember why they were rebelling, the door just disappeared on its own. So maybe you just have to believe that you can leave?”

“Huh, is that it?” Before Jack even finished speaking, the door started to glow blue, and in a moment faded away. “Guess so,” he observed as he stepped out. “Maybe the door was only locked because I expected it would be. Cognition, and all that.”

Joker shrugged. “Anyway, to get to the Velvet Room, head down this hallway and take a right at the first cross-hallway. I’m freeing everyone and sending them there.”

“Got it, see you soon,” was Jack’s reply before he headed off.

After a very straightforward walk, Jack saw a room ahead that was a familiar shade of blue. As he approached he noticed more details: it was a prison, like Joker had said, consisting of a circular room lined with cells. In the center was a desk, behind which sat a familiar long-nosed man, and beside it stood a young girl wearing blue. He smiled as he stepped into the room, then spotted Queen, Yusuke and Panther standing together off to one side. 

The girls gaped at him, though Yusuke seemed to be too busy studying the interior of the room to notice anyone had arrived. “Yu, you’re here too?” Panther asked. 

Jack had to laugh. “I seem to hear that a lot when I meet up with you guys. And I thought we were using code names.”

“Um, Jack, then,” Queen corrected. “But really, _why_ are you here?”

He could only shrug at her. “Your guess is as good as mine.” He felt it would be rude to not greet the Master of the Velvet Room, so he stepped closer to the desk. “Hello, Igor. It’s good to see you again.”

The enigmatic old man always wore a wide grin, but it managed to grow even wider. “It’s a pleasure to see you as well, my dear guest.”

“I heard you had a bit of trouble lately. Are you alright?” the young man asked.

“I appreciate the concern, but all is well now,” was the reply.

“I’m glad to hear it,” Jack said, nodding. “Say, while I’m here, is there any chance I could switch around my Personas?”

“I’m afraid not,” Igor said, and he truly sounded regretful. “Unfortunately, Margaret has your Compendium, and she is not here at present.”

The little girl standing by the desk added, “My sister was away when the room was overtaken, so while she is not here, she should be well. I will search for her once I have the time.”

So this girl was Margaret’s sister, just like the lady named Elizabeth that Jack had met once. “Well, it’s good to know she should be alright. Please give her my regards once you find her.”

“I will be sure to do that,” she solemnly informed him.

Jack turned to find that Oracle and Noir had joined the other Thieves, and they all were watching him with curiosity. He just shrugged at them, then went to stand near the group. 

A short time later Joker entered the room with Skull. At the sight of Jack, Skull’s eyes widened and he started to shout, “Why-”

“No idea,” Jack interrupted him. While it was somewhat amusing, he really didn’t need to hear the question over and over.

With everyone gathered, Igor and the girl, who turned out to be named Lavenza, explained what happened, while Jack stood off to the side and stayed silent. For starters, they were informed that Igor had created Morgana out of humanity’s hope in order to find the Trickster and help him dispel an evil being. Jack had once represented Hope himself, so he smiled and felt an odd sort of kinship towards the creature.

The story went that the being which called itself a god had sought to force people into servitude by making people stop thinking for themselves. Honestly, that sounded rather familiar to Jack. Theoretically the being was once a Treasure that became a god because people wished to be ruled over, but Jack had his doubts that people actually wished for that. He’d already dealt with one god that decided on its own what humans wanted and tried to make it happen. He would not put it past this being to have decided what _it_ wanted and made people believe that’s what _they_ wanted.

Even more familiar was the reveal that this so-called god had chosen two people to pit against each other to see what should happen to humanity, then rigged the outcome of the “game.” Jack’s hand quietly curled into a fist at this, and he struggled to keep his growing anger from showing on his face. Why did gods keep doing stuff like this, and then dragging teenagers in to deal with the mess they made?

He was taking deep, slow breaths to try and calm himself when Lavenza said that they all did not exist any more because reality was full of the cognition of those who denied the Phantom Thieves. For the first time, Jack spoke up to ask, “Wait, so why am I here? I’m not really a Phantom Thief.”

“Yes you are!” shouted all the other Thieves, more or less in unison. 

He stared at them in astonishment for a moment, then said, “Well, there’s my answer, then.” He’d never really believed himself to be a proper Phantom Thief, since he didn’t participate in any Thief stuff. But apparently, as far as they were concerned, he was just as much a Thief as them. And almost nobody knew who the Thieves were besides the other Thieves anyway, so if their cognition was that Jack was a Thief, then it was so. 

Though on second thought, he supposed it was possible that the evil god had just scooped him up with the others just to be petty. But cognition seemed to be everything at the moment, so the first reason sounded more likely.

In the end, what it came down to was that a group of teens had to fight a malevolent god again. The situation was so familiar that it practically made Jack feel sick. It was really making him want to help out, but as they made their way out of the room, he worked hard to convince himself that he should leave it to the younger Wild Card and his team. Just like how Yu had been perfectly suited to stopping Izanami, it seemed very likely that only Joker could stop this evil god. The Investigation Team had been able to fight their way to the goddess and hold their own against her until Yu was able to take her down, and the Phantom Thieves would surely be able to do the same. They’d be fine.

He was still repeating that to himself when the Thieves exited the Velvet Room to find themselves in Shibuya.

* * *

Tokyo looked just the way it did when they’d all disappeared. Jack thought at first that the only change was that the rain was now forming red puddles on the ground, but after looking around a bit, he noticed an odd, circular tower a few blocks away. Also, the door they’d just used to exit the Velvet Room was now standing in the middle of the sidewalk, except instead of being blue and made of light, it was a heavy-duty cell door of stone and steel, with a metal sign on top reading “Velvet Prison” in English. There were so many things wrong with the Velvet Room at the moment that Jack just accepted it and moved on.

Interestingly, Mona soon began to glow, after which some of the people in the square started to notice the Thieves, but only the Thieves. Not the red rain, or the bony structures, or the ominous barred door. Perhaps being noticed meant the Thieves were back in everyone’s cognition enough for them to exist again. Or at least, that’s how Jack thought cognition worked. 

The Thieves got ready to head to the tower, which Mona said was a temple. As Joker looked over the group, he asked, “Jack, want to come with us?”

Jack smiled and shook his head. “No, I may have been pulled into this more than I expected, but this still isn’t my journey. I’ll leave it to you.”

Joker just nodded, clearly not surprised by the answer. “Alright. We’ll see you when we get back.”

“I look forward to celebrating your success,” Jack told them cheerfully. Joker grinned, and then with a swirl of his coat the Thieves were off, running along those bony structures to make their way to the temple.

Jack watched them until they were out of sight. And then there was nothing to do but wait. And wonder how they were doing. And if they would really be OK.

...Was this how Dojima and Boss always felt, waiting for their charge to get back, knowing a group of kids was out there risking their lives but there was nothing they could do about it?

“You seem troubled,” a girl’s voice said from off to one side. He turned to see that a more typical door to the Velvet Room had appeared, glowy blue but barred, and Lavenza was standing beside it.

“Ah, yes, I suppose so,” Jack replied.

“What is it that has brought you distress?” she wished to know.

Jack glanced in the direction the Thieves had gone before answering, “I guess...I’m worried about them, and wondering if they’ll be able to get through this.”

“The Trickster has performed admirably up to this point,” Lavenza said confidently. “I am certain that he will succeed.”

Jack nodded, but he didn’t relax any. After a moment, Lavenza asked, “Is there more that has you concerned?”

The Wild Card stared off for a moment, brow furrowed, before sighing. “I keep wondering if I did the right thing.” He glanced at the girl, but she just cocked her head inquisitively at him, so he continued. “I mean, saying out of the fight. I assumed that interfering with another Wild Card’s journey could mess things up for them but...would it? Or could I be up there with them right now, helping to fight off the lesser Shadows so they can save their strength for when they need it most?”

The girl’s gaze dropped from his own, and she appeared regretful. “Unfortunately, I can not say. As always, the choices of our guests are their own to make. We of the Velvet Room can only advise.” 

Well, he supposed it was too much to hope that he’d get a straight answer out of anyone from that room.

After a moment, she looked back up at him with a small smile and added, “However, I find I am not displeased with your actions. You did assist our guest when we were unable to do so, and for that you have my gratitude.” 

He gave her a somewhat uncertain smile back. “Well, then you’re welcome. But it's not like I did much,” Jack protested.

“Even small actions may have a great impact. I believe this phenomenon is called the ‘butterfly effect’, correct?” Her smile took on a more mysterious quality as she said this.

...Was she making a joke about her butterfly-shaped hair ornaments?

Before he could think about that too much, he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. He spun around to see something that looked like a menacing robotic angel heading straight toward him. Considering what had happened to the world, it had to be a Shadow.

Without thinking, he cried “Persona!” and crushed the card that appeared. Izanagi-no-Okami appeared and cast Ziodyne on the Shadow, which burst apart into three Shadows that looked like various Personas. He quickly cast Megidolan, which tore through the group in no time. 

With the immediate danger gone, Jack looked around to see if more were coming. There were no more Shadows near him, but he could see them hovering above the bones near the temple, particularly the one that sloped down to the square in front of him like a grotesque ramp. He grit his teeth at the sight of all the monsters. Were they going to come down and attack people? And none of the people around had reacted to his brief fight, so they probably shouldn’t see the Shadows any more than they could see the bones. None of them were aware of the danger.

“What are you going to do?” Lavenza asked from her spot by the door.

Jack didn’t hesitate. “I’m not going to just stand here while people are in danger. I won’t fight the Thieves’ battles for them, but I’m going to do everything in my power to protect the people they’re fighting for.” He pulled out his TV World glasses and slipped them on for old time’s sake, then ran to meet a Shadow that was coming down the ramp. 

He was in no way prepared to take on an unknown number of Shadows for an unknown amount of time. He had no weapons, armor, items or support, but he had his Personas. That would have to be enough.

The Shadows came slowly at first. By standing at the base of the ramp and attacking the Shadows that approached him every now and then, he was able to keep any of them from getting near the unaware populace. He first realized they’d started coming from other directions when he heard someone screaming.

He whipped his head around to find that a plain-looking boy was backing up against a building across the square, staring in horror at a Shadow that was looming over him. Jack bolted towards them and cast another Ziodyne on the Shadow to draw it’s attention away from the kid. That succeeded in diverting it to attacking Jack instead, and he made short work of it. 

As it crumbled away into smoke, Jack scanned the area to make sure no more were Shadows around just yet. Seeing none, he turned to the guy he’d just saved. Now that he could see the boy better, Jack noticed he was wearing a Shujin uniform. “You OK, kid?” he asked. 

“Y-yeah,” the boy said, looking at Jack with wide eyes. “Um, what was that thing you just did?”

“You don’t need to know that,” Jack said bluntly. He wasn’t going to explain Personas, and he didn’t have time to come up with a pleasant way to deflect the question. 

The boy said “Oh,” and wilted a little, but he still asked, “You’re fighting those monsters, right? Can I help?”

“No, you can’t do anything against these,” Jack said firmly. “You should get away from this area, get inside a building if you can.”

“Please! There must be something I can do! I could...get help, or supplies, or something!” The kid was clenching his fists and staring at Jack with all the desperation of a puppy who really wanted a treat.

Jack sighed internally. It seemed this kid was not going to leave him alone, and would probably follow him if he just walked away now. Best give him something simple to do to make him feel useful, and then maybe he’d be smart enough to get away. “Fine, I could use a soda. Fighting’s thirsty work.” And with any luck, whatever the kid brought would work as a healing item.

“Got it! Be back soon!” the boy chirped, then dashed off. Jack just shook his head and went to intercept another Shadow that was descending.

A couple minutes after he’d finished off the Shadows, the kid rushed back. He held out his school bag, which was stuffed with sodas. “Here,” he said through gasps for air, “I didn’t know what you liked, so I got a bunch.”

Jack grabbed a bottle at random, then twisted off the cap and chugged half the contents. He could feel it restore a little bit of his physical stamina, not magical energy as he’d hoped, and the effect was very minor. Basically this would do more to keep him hydrated than healed. Still, the kid did as he asked, so he’d try to pat the boy on the head and send him on his way.

“Thanks, uh…” He didn’t know the kid’s name.

“Oh, my name’s Yuki Mishima. Everyone just calls me Mishima.” 

“Well, thanks, Mishima-kun.” That name sounded familiar. Jack took another gulp of his drink as he tried to place it, and after a moment he realized he’d heard it mentioned in the group chat, so he asked, “Oh, you run the Phan-site, right?” The Thieves had kept mentioning a Mishima finding them requests through the site.

Mishima’s eyes grew wide with shock. “Nobody but the Phantom Thieves knows that! A-are you a Phantom Thief?”

Ah, was that so? He’d have to be careful not to mention who the Phan-site admin was to anyone in the future. Anyway, the answer to Mishima’s question was apparently yes, but Jack didn’t think he should reveal that to anyone without Joker’s express permission. So he settled on, “I’m an ally. Call me Jack.”

“Wow!” Mishima said, looking starry-eyed. “Jack-san, what else can I do to help?”

This had gone on long enough. “Nothing, besides get to safety. The more people who get away from here, the better.” He gulped down the rest of the soda as he scanned the area, then spotted another Shadow approaching. He ignored Mishima trying to insist he could help, tossed the soda bottle at a nearby trash can and ran to deal with the Shadow.

This one turned into a big coffin-looking thing. Mot, he thought it was. He was trying to fight conservatively, to figure out weaknesses and exploit them so he could deal more damage with less energy. To that end, he was throwing every element at everything to see what happened. But when he tried casting Mamudoon on the Mot, it got reflected back on him. Fortunately he was using Alice at the time so the curse was reflected away from him, but Jack had to take a moment to check around and make sure it didn’t hit any bystanders. He’d try to remember not to do that again. Once he found it was weak to Wind, it went down quickly.

He started to look around to see if any more Shadows were nearby, only to find that some of the people milling around the square were starting to notice something strange was going on, starting with the change in scenery. But more immediately important, Mishima was standing dangerously close behind him. 

“Hey, was that magic you just used? And why did it bounce back at you?” the kid asked, wide-eyed and eager.

Did this boy have no sense of self-preservation? “Forget about that, you need to leave the area,” Jack said sternly. “If you can’t fight these things, you need to get as far away as you can.”

“I-I’m not afraid!” Mishima insisted, though the quaver in his voice said otherwise. “I’ll do anything to help the Phantom Thieves!”

A man’s voice spoke up off to their side. “So you’re fighting for the Phantom Thieves, are you?” 

Shit, who heard them and how much trouble would that cause for the Thieves? Jack turned to face the voice and found an intimidating-looking man in a long coat, wearing a hat pulled low and yellow ear protectors on top of it. As he was sizing up the man, wondering how to deal with him, the guy chuckled.

“You got a good look in your eye,” the man said. “Don’t worry, I ain’t your enemy. And if you’re fighting those monsters, I could even get you a weapon. A certain kid’s been buying equipment off me all year, so I could help out someone who’s working with him.”

Huh, given that the man had mentioned the Phantom Thieves, and since Jack knew Ren was the one buying equipment for the team, then this man must at least know that Ren was a Thief. He also seemed to be going out of his way to avoid saying any names, which was more than Mishima had done. Jack wasn’t going to confirm or deny anything, but he could probably accept the offer.

So Jack nodded. “Sure, a weapon would be helpful.”

The man grinned. “Great, you got any preference?”

“A longsword would be best,” Jack answered. “I’m most familiar with a katana, but any long blade will do.”

“Got it. I’ll be back,” the man said, before hurrying off towards Central Street.

Jack watched the man for a moment, wondering who exactly he was, but he didn’t have time to think about that for long. He went back to fighting off Shadows, ignoring Mishima and hoping the kid would get the hint.

Mishima did not get the hint. Through the next three fights he kept following after Jack, speaking up often to insist he could help or offer useless comments like, “Oh, there’s three of them this time,” or “Watch out!”

When the last of the third group of Shadows collapsed, Jack turned to Mishima. “Listen, if you’re not going to leave, then stay back and stay quiet. Your commentary is distracting me, which puts us both in danger.”

“But I-” Mishima tried to say, but Jack wouldn’t let him finish.

“No buts. This is not the time for needless chatter,” Jack insisted.

Mishima slowly closed his mouth, giving Jack a mournful look like a kicked puppy. Damn it, why was the kid making him feel bad?

Fortunately, the man from before jogged up to them carrying a large duffle bag, and said, “Alright, one katana. Catch.” He pulled out a sheathed sword and tossed it one-handed to Jack, who caught it. 

Jack’s eyebrows shot up at the feel of it. “This is a lot lighter than I’m used to,” he noted.

“It’s a model,” the man explained. “Only plastic and wood, but I figure if the kid’s been buying my models all year, it ought to work for you, too.”

Jack unsheathed the blade to take a look at it. It was definitely fake, but it looked like a very realistic model, and of fairly sturdy construction. He gave it a couple of swings to test the weight, and although it felt a bit odd, he figured he could get used to it easy enough.

“That’ll do, thanks,” Jack said, fixing the sheath on his belt. He probably wouldn’t have a chance to put the sword down, considering how many Shadows were around, but it didn’t hurt.

The man nodded. “Got a couple more things I thought you could use.” He pulled out something that looked like a silver bulletproof vest and held it out.

“Perfect, never hurts to have protective equipment,” Jack said, taking the vest and shrugging it on.

“Right. Now then, you want a gun, too?” the man asked.

Jack gave him a puzzled look, wondering why he was offering a weapon he hadn’t asked for, before he remembered the Thieves had used guns as well as melee weapons. “Oh, no thanks. I don’t know how to use one, and now’s not the time to learn.”

“Fair enough,” the man said. He pulled out a machine gun and said, “I’ll just use ‘em myself, then. Like hell am I going to just run away when I can defend myself.”

Jack supposed he couldn’t bedruge the man that, and he at least seemed to know what he was doing. But that didn’t mean it was safe. “OK, but stay well away from them. You don’t have the power that I do, so one hit from these things could kill you,” Jack warned.

“Alright. How ‘bout I just hang back and back you up, then?” the man proposed.

Having any kind of support _would_ be helpful, even if the effect would be limited without a Persona. “Sounds like a plan,” Jack agreed. Realizing he ought to at least introduce himself if they’d be working together, he said, “I’m Jack, by the way.”

“I’m Iwai,” was the response.

“And I’m Mishima!” piped up the kid.

Jack looked sidelong at the boy. “Iwai-san, you may need to protect him. Make sure he stays out of danger.”

“Ain’t got no time for honorifics, stick to just Iwai,” he admonished. “But sure, I’ll keep an eye on the kid.”

Jack nodded. “Iwai it is, then. Now we’ve spent too long standing around talking. Let’s get to it.” As soon as he looked around, he spotted another Shadow, so he summoned a Persona and dove into the fray.

Having a sword did make things easier. Jack hadn’t realized how stilted his fighting had felt when he couldn’t physically attack, not to mention it made it easier to conserve his magic. The sword held up surprisingly well, too. Even the best-made model shouldn’t be able to hold up to more than a few blows in real combat, but this endured like it was proper metal. Probably another product of cognition, same as the way that Iwai’s model gun was acting like it shot real bullets.

More people were noticing that something strange was going on, and Jack started to hear cries of alarm. He gritted his teeth at the sound. If people started to panic, that would make things more chaotic and dangerous. But more than that, he just hated to hear people afraid. All he could do was keep fighting and hope the Thieves dealt with the cause of all this soon.

As the fighting continued, Jack came up against a group of two Thrones and a Mot. He remembered Throne was weak to Dark spells, so he summoned Alice again.

“Wait, don’t!” Mishima suddenly shouted, but Jack had already cast Mamudoon. The Thrones disintegrated, but the Mot reflected the attack back. Right, he’d forgotten it did that. He quickly switched to another Persona and cast Garudyne instead.

As the Shadow collapsed, Jack turned to Mishima. The boy looked apologetic as he said, “Ah, I was trying to warn you. I remembered that thing you did bounced off that monster.” 

If he remembered that, maybe he _could_ be useful. So Jack said, “Hey Mishima, there is something you could do for me. Can you keep track of which types of skills work on each monster? The skills all have different elements, and some monsters are weak or resistant to different elements.”

The boy looked positively elated at the request. If he were a puppy, his tail would be wagging a mile a minute. “Leave it to me!” he cheered. He rummaged around in his school bag, pulled a notebook and asked, “So what can you tell me?”

Writing it down, huh? As long as it worked for him. “That coffin-shaped monster is called Mot. It reflects Dark skills, and is weak to Wind.”

Iwai contributed, “Bullets didn’t seem to do much to it, either.”

Jack nodded. “So it’s strong against gunfire.” He’d never noticed any of the Shadows he’d fought previously being any stronger or weaker to Naoto’s guns than any other physical attacks, but maybe this was yet another product of cognition.

They got back to fighting, with Jack periodically calling out what he noticed about the Shadow’s affinities, and soon Mishima was serving as a passable navigator. Quickly knowing what elements to use or avoid made Jack able to fight more efficiently. 

Good thing too, because the Shadow appearances had been getting steadily more frequent. They needed to take down the Shadows as quickly as possible in order to be ready for the next one. Fighting for this long also could have left Jack at the risk of running low on magic, but fortunately he could let Izanagi-no-Okami use Victory Cry once in a while. Without that, he’d have been spent a while ago, since he had no healing items.

Jack had long accepted that he couldn’t patrol all of Shibuya, let alone the whole of Tokyo, so he was focusing on dealing with just the Shadows he could see. But eventually there were so many that he couldn’t stop them all in time. While he was still dealing with one set of Shadows, he spotted another down the street, closing in on a woman who appeared to be staring up at the sky in panic. After only one strike from the Shadow, the woman collapsed into a puff of black smoke, just like a defeated Shadow.

Jack didn’t cry out at the sight. It would have done no good, and he had to keep his focus on the Shadow in front of him, so he didn’t meet the same fate. But still, it burned him that there was someone in front of him that he couldn’t save. He finished off his fight as quickly as he could, then raced towards the Shadow down the street to try and stop it from killing anyone else.

The Shadows kept coming, and despite the best efforts of Jack and the two supporting him, more people went up in smoke. The one saving grace was that Jack didn’t recognize any of the people in the area. It would have felt so much worse if his friends or family were in danger.

Of course, his luck on that front didn’t hold forever. As he finished off one fight, he spotted a familiar woman across the square with long, greyish hair. An Abbadon was looming over the woman, clearly about to slam down on her. But instead of running like most people, she was in a fighting stance, as if she was ready to defend herself with her bare hands. Jack’s eyes grew wide and he ran towards her. Queen was _not_ going to be happy if her sister was killed by a Shadow.

The Abbadon was already on the move, and even if Jack attacked it now, that wouldn’t stop it in time. So when the Shadow started to lunge, Jack swiftly crushed a card and shouted “Arahabaki!” 

The statue-like Persona appeared in front of Niijima, causing the Shadow’s attack to bounce back. To be safe, Jack had his Persona cast Tetrakarn on the woman to try and protect her a bit more.

“Niijima-san, stand back, we’ll handle this,” he called out. Then, not taking his eyes off the Shadow, he asked, “Mishima?”

“No known weaknesses on that one, but don’t use guns, physical attacks or Dark skills,” Mishima reported.

He’d stick to Almighty attacks, then. He switched to Izanagi-no-Okami and got to work.

When the Shadow went down, Jack didn’t even wait for it to finish crumbling into smoke before running over to Queen’s sister. “Niijima-san, are you alright?”

She was still standing in a defensive stance, but seemed fairly calm otherwise. “Yes I’m fine, Na-”

“Jack,” he interrupted. He looked towards the two who’d followed along behind him, hoping she’d get the hint.

She followed his gaze and didn’t question him. Instead she asked, “What’s going on?”

“No time for long explanations,” Jack said. “Short answer is the world’s gone wrong and the Phantom Thieves are working to stop it. Meanwhile I’m trying to fight off as many of those monsters as I can, and I just met these two people who are backing me up.” He gestured towards Iwai and Mishima, who nodded and waved respectively. 

Niijima looked them over more carefully, then asked, “That power you were using, do these two have it as well?”

Jak shook his head and answered, “No, which is why they’re staying back. Without this power, one hit from those monsters will kill you. That’s why I couldn’t let you try and fight that monster hand to hand.”

“Ah,” she said, sounding disappointed. “I was hoping I could help as well.”

Iwai spoke up, “If you can use a gun, I got spares.” He held open his duffel bag to show several types of guns.

Niijima gave him a sharp look. “Why do you have so many firearms?”

Iwai looked amused at the question. “Relax, lady, they’re all models. But they work against these things for some reason.” To prove his point. He pointed his gun at the pavement and pulled the trigger, but only a plastic pellet hit the ground.

The woman appeared mollified at the sight. “Very well. I’m not well practiced with guns, but my father showed me how to use them when I was younger.”

They needed to get moving. Hoping to hurry things along, Jack said, “Alright then, introductions. Mishima, Iwai, Niijima,” he said, pointing at each person in turn. “Pick a gun, then let’s get to work.”

Niijima glanced at Mishima and said, “Our names are too similar, everyone call me Sae for now.”

As Sae looked through the models, Jack started giving orders. “OK, Iwai and Sae, your priority is to shoot any monsters you see about to attack anyone, to draw their attention towards us. I’ll take them out. Second priority is to shoot whatever I’m fighting, unless Mishima says not to. Mishima, continue to keep track of which skills the monsters are weak or resistant to. And everyone, stay aware of our surroundings and warn us all if something else is trying to approach us when I’m busy. Understood?” Everyone gave him firm nods, clutching their gun or notebook in tight grips. “Good, let’s go.”

They dove back into the fray, fighting Shadows among a populace who were growing steadily more panicked. Most people didn’t even notice the people fighting the Shadows, but for anyone who did, Jack tried to call for them to get away from the area and into a building. Very, very few people actually listened to him. Having a second person to help with cover fire made it a little faster to take down the Shadows, but that was quickly counteracted by how fast the Shadows were coming at them. 

After a while Jack noticed his phone was ringing. He ignored it at first, because he was in the middle of fighting. When the Shadow went down and he found his phone was ringing again, he pulled it out to check. Naoto was calling, and had tried to call him 4 times already. Damn, she must be able to see everything now. He’d have to figure out what to tell her later. For now he put his phone on silent and went back to work.

At one point when Iwai shot at one of the vaguely angelic-looking Shadows, it burst apart to reveal...

“Mara,” Jack practically groaned, exasperated at the sight.

“What’d you say?” Sae asked, before she noticed the long, green creature on a golden chariot and her eyes widened.

“That big one is called Mara,” Jack said, loud enough to make sure Mishima heard. It was accompanied by two smaller Shadows that looked like someone had torn the head off a Mara and dropped it on the ground. Which was actually kind of painful to think about.

“Why is it so…” Sae paused, clearly at a loss for words.

“Phallic? No idea,” Jack answered. He actually kind of figured it had something to do with the fact that if you examined the human unconsciousness long enough, you were bound to find some pretty suggestive thoughts, but he wasn’t about to discuss psychology in the middle of a battleground.

Iwai looked unphased and just tried to shoot the thing, only to find it had no reaction to the bullets. “Guns are no good on it,” he observed. Then he turned his attack on the small ones, and called, “Hey Sae, shoot the little ones!”

That seemed to shake her out of her scandalized surprise. “Right,” she said, and followed his lead.

Mishima was writing busily in his notebook. “Jack, what’re the small ones called?”

Jack looked at them again and said, “Not sure actually, I’ve never seen them before. Call them Small Mara for now.” Then he got to work figuring out what element to attack these things with.

After an unknown amount of time fighting, Jack heard a loud rumble off in the distance. He glanced that way to find that the “temple” that the Thieves had been heading for was crumbling, then appeared to split apart. Before he could figure out if it was a good thing or not, something large rose up from inside the structure. It looked a little like the robotic-angelic Shadows roaming the area, but far larger, towering over every building in Tokyo and with “wings” that spanned a city block, at the very least.

“What is that?” Mishima gasped, and Jack looked over his team to see that they all were staring in shock at the gigantic being.

“That’s probably what the Phantom Thieves are fighting against,” he told them solemnly. There was no doubt in his mind that it was the “evil god” Lavenza had spoken about. “Let’s leave it to them, we have a job to do.” That shook them out of their reverie and they nodded, looking determined.

The Shadows seemed almost frantic now, rushing to attack as quickly as they could. Jack had to switch to protecting his own team above anyone else, or else he’d be overrun. He hated having to choose to prioritise just a few lives out of the many in the area, but he knew that if he tried to save everyone, he might just end up overreaching and saving nobody instead.

As they fought, Jack could periodically hear a deep, booming voice coming from the direction of the evil god. Between the distance, the panicked shots of the people around him, and the fact that he was fighting for his life, he couldn’t make out exactly what was being said. But now and then, he noticed the god’s tone of voice suggested things weren’t quite going its way, which made Jack smile grimly. 

Then suddenly there was a massive burst of energy from the god, strong enough that Jack could feel the shockwave from all the way where he stood. The Shadows in the area slowed their onslaught, giving Jack the breathing room to see what was going on. 

The area around the god had grown dark, crackling with energy. It was speaking again, and in the relative quiet, Jack managed to make one sentence: “Not even one sliver of unpredictability can be permitted under my control.”

That made an amused smirk stretch across Jack’s face that could have rivaled one of Joker’s own.

Sae stared at the expression, clearly confused, before asking, “What’s so funny?”

He turned his head just enough to look at her before answering, “It’s too bad for that guy that there’s two wild cards in the deck.” She managed to look even more baffled at that, but Jack just shrugged and turned back to the distant fight. Whatever was about to happen was something he didn’t want to miss.

Soon after that, on the screens around Shibuya, which had been crackling with blank static, the Phantom Thieves logo started to appear. Then from every speaker in the area Morgana’s voice rang out: “We’ll definitely...definitely...take the world!”

Around the square, people started to calm down as they noticed the logos, and soon people began to mutter about the Phantom Thieves. But even so, most people still seemed to think that there was nothing the Thieves could do.

Mishima had been staring wide-eyed in amazement at the screens. As he heard more and more people talk about the Thieves, delight bloomed on his face until he pumped a fist into the air and shouted “Take it down, Phantom Thieves!” 

All the people around him just stared hopelessly, disparaging mutters filling the air. Mishima looked around at the lack of enthusiasm, then started calling to the crowd. “Come on, why do you think they’ve risked their lives all this time!? Damn it you guys! Snap out of it!” Scrunching up his face, he screamed, “When will you stop running from the truth?”

There was a long moment where nobody reacted. Then people started to cheer for the Phantom Thieves, starting with just a few voices who were soon joined by more, until the whole of Shibuya seemed to be shouting in support.

Jack smiled broadly and called out to Mishima, “Well said! Nothing good ever comes from avoiding the truth.” Then he looked out over the crowd, noting that all the Shadows in the area seemed to have made themselves scarce at some point, leaving people to cheer without fear.

After a moment, Jack could feel a peculiar energy growing. It was somewhat familiar, but it took him a moment to place it. When he did, his eyes grew wide in surprise; it was the same kind of feeling he’d experienced when he faced Izanami. When all had seemed lost, he’d felt the power of his bonds supporting him, giving him the strength he needed to take down the goddess for good. That was the same kind of feeling growing in him now, but this time, it was _his_ strength reaching out to support another.

As Jack looked around the area, he could just barely sense that strength coming from several other people in the area. Not surprisingly, the feeling came from Mishima, Sai and Iwai. Boss had arrived at some point and was speaking to Mishima, and the feeling came from him, too. And from an older man with a politician’s sash, a punk-looking woman in a lab coat, a young boy in a red hat...There seemed to be others, farther away, but he couldn’t spot them all. And naturally, every one of them was calling out their support for the Thieves.

Jack looked up at the distant fight and added his voice to the throng. “So this is what your journey’s been leading to. With this many people supporting you, there’s no way you can lose.” Perhaps his voice might even reach Joker, if his hunch was correct.

The cheers rose to a crescendo as the energy grew to match it. A broad grin grew on Jack’s face, eager with anticipation for what was to come. Then when the feeling could grow no more, something in the air seemed to shatter. 

Jack strained his eyes trying to see what had happened, but there only seemed to be a burst of light, perhaps an explosion of some sort. He held his breath for a moment, wondering if that might be it. Then with a crash of thunder, another giant presence began to descend from the sky.

It was a Persona, Jack could tell that much at once. But it was the biggest Persona he’d ever seen, large enough to rival the god it faced off against. He had no idea it was even possible to have a Persona that big. But bonds always did give Wild Cards strength, and with the support of an entire city behind Joker, perhaps anything was possible.

And they continued to support him. At the sight of the huge Persona, people began to call out in shock and awe, cheering on the Phantom Thieves even harder. This time Jack could actually _see_ their support, coalescing around the humongous Persona as motes of golden light. As the power gathered all together, the Persona drew a giant gun, large enough that Jack could see it clearly even at a distance. 

With just one shot, the god was no more.

There was a burst of light after that, bright enough that Jack had to close his eyes against it. When he blinked them open, he found the world around him was frozen. There was not a single moving thing in sight. Just as strange was the fact that the red rain, which so far had formed only puddles, had somehow accumulated to reach his waist. Before he could start to guess what had happened, he heard a familiar voice shout, “What the hell!?”

He had never been so glad to hear Skull being too loud.

Jack spun around to see the Phantom Thieves standing together across the square. He smiled, started to wave to them, and realized he was still holding the model katana. No need for that any more, so he sheathed it. He’d have to get it back to Iwai later. 

The Thieves had noticed the motion though, because by the time Jack looked up from the sheath, they were all grinning and hurrying his way. He grinned back and went to meet them, moving as fast as he could while sloshing through hip-deep liquid.

Not that the liquid lasted long. In moments the sky cleared, then the water suddenly shattered like glass. The glass shards and the bones crumbled away, a strangely beautiful sight, before the whole world began to dissolve into light. As did Mona, to the Thieves’ despair. Once more, an overpowering light overtook Jack’s vision…

And when it cleared, the world was back to normal. He and his friends were back in Shibuya, the teens in normal clothes, and the crowd bustling around like usual.

It was as if nothing had happened...except now, they could hear people talking about how there were shady rumors about Shido, and how they didn’t have a prime minister. So maybe going through all that effort to kill an evil god had an effect after all.

Before everyone split up for the night, Haru proposed they have another huddle to celebrate their victory. While everyone was a bit embarrassed to do that in public, everyone went along with it, and of course insisted Yu join them. After making plans to meet up at Leblanc tomorrow (Yu just assumed he was invited at this point), everyone headed home.

Yu couldn’t get to bed soon enough. He was completely wiped out after fighting for so long, when he was so out of practice. In the morning he’d have to figure out what to do about Naoto, and returning the gear to Iwai, and whatever else might have come up during that evening. But for now, he was going to get some well-deserved rest.


	7. The Fifth Tale - Seek the Truth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We now begin the Royal content! This chapter, and all chapters following it, will take place during the third semester.

Ren was having a weird day. It started when he woke up from a strangely unsettling dream (something about wandering through the school after a butterfly?) to find that Morgana was nowhere to be seen. It wasn’t like him to wander off unannounced, but Ren thought maybe he’d gone downstairs to bug Boss for some breakfast.

No such luck, though. The only person in the cafe besides Boss was a blue-eyed guy who Ren had never seen before, but who seemed to know Ren.

The day got weirder when Futaba came in later wearing a kimono that she claimed she’d picked out with her mom. Had they bought it together before her mom died? But wasn’t that at least a couple of years ago? Would it still fit? Unless Futaba just hadn’t grown much since then, which honestly was a possibility.

Then when he went to visit the shrine with Kasumi for the first visit of the year, they happened to run into all of the Phantom Thieves, which was unusual but a nice coincidence. Except it wasn’t really _all_ the Thieves. Morgana was still missing, and there was still one more who was absent. When someone commented that everyone just happened to meet up, Ren pointed out, “Yu’s not here.”

Why did everyone look blank at the observation?

Kasumi asked the question everyone seemed to be wondering: “Senpai, who’s Yu?”

Right, she wasn’t a Phantom Thief and had never met him. He told her, “Yu is a friend of ours.” Seeing no recognition on his friends’ faces, he added, “We’ve done some fun stuff together. Remember when we both took the Big Bang Challenge?” It was the most memorable thing he could think of that didn’t involve the Phantom Thieves or talking about feelings.

That made everyone smile. “Oh yeah, that guy,” Ryuji said. And then the conversation turned to what everyone was doing for the rest of the day.

...That was it? Everyone apparently forgot about Yu, barely remembered him when reminded, and then proceeded to ignore him? Just as strange was what everyone else was intending to do with their day. Futaba and Haru were planning to spend time with family members that were deceased, Ryuji was going to check in with the track team that had kicked him out, and Ann was going to hang out with her friend who had moved away months ago. This was all so wrong on so many different levels!

By the time Ren was heading back to Leblanc, he was starting to wonder if he was still asleep. He was contemplating whether pinching yourself actually proved whether you were awake or not when his phone pinged. He pulled it out to find he’d gotten a text.

 **Yu:** Hey, what happened to the cat chat? The name changed, and all the pictures of Morgana are gone.

It had? Ren hadn’t looked at the chat today, but considering how much else had gone weird today, he didn’t doubt it was possible. And sure enough, he found instead of being called Phantom Felines it was now Fancy Felines, and all the pictures that everyone had posted of Morgana were just gone. He checked the photos app on his phone and found that every picture he’d ever taken of Morgana had disappeared, some of them replaced with various other cat pictures.

There could theoretically be a good reason for this. It was certainly within Futaba’s abilities to arrange it. But unless she felt like pulling a fairly nonsensical prank, he couldn’t think why she’d do such a thing.

With the growing feeling that something was wrong with the world, Ren checked the Phantom Thieves group chat. The name had been changed back to Cats and Coffee, and there was not a single mention of Phantom Thievery anywhere, aside from everyone still using their code names as screen names.

At least Yu seemed to notice something was off. Ren typed out a reply.

 **Ren:** I’m not sure. The Phantom Thieves group chat has gone weird too.  
 **Yu:** Have you noticed anything else weird today?  
 **Ren:** Yeah, there’s been a lot, but nobody else seems to notice.  
 **Yu:** I’m glad I’m not the only one. Mind if I come over to talk about it?  
 **Ren:** Sure, I’m on my way back to Leblanc from visiting the shrine.  
 **Yu:** Great, I’ll meet you there.

* * *

Ren was sitting in the booth closest to the stairs, facing the door and drinking a cup of coffee when Yu walked into Leblanc. Which meant he had a clear view of the moment when the older Wild Card spotted the blue-eyed guy at the counter. Yu froze, eyes wide, then looked the guy over from top the bottom.

The strange guy glanced at Yu, looking puzzled. “Hmm? Is something wrong?” he asked.

That snapped Yu out of it. “Oh no, it’s nothing,” he said, then stuffed his hands in his pockets and headed over to Ren.

Did Yu recognize the guy? As Yu stopped by his table, Ren asked, “What’s up?”

Yu glanced towards Boss without turning his head, then back at Ren. “Let’s go for a walk,” he suggested. Assuming that Yu didn’t want to talk about things near Boss, Ren nodded and followed his friend out.

Yu lead Ren down the street, wandering apparently aimlessly and not saying a word. Eventually he stopped down an alley by the old movie theater. He turned to Ren and asked without preamble, “So what have you noticed?”

So Ren told him: about Morgana being missing, some unfamiliar guy who claims to know him in the cafe, none of the Phantom Thieves seeming to care about Yu, everybody hanging out with people who should be impossible for various reasons, and all traces of Phantom Thieves or Morgana erased from his phone.

When he was done, he asked, “How about you? What have you noticed?”

Yu looked at him solemnly and said, “I saw that the blue-eyed guy in the cafe is Morgana.”

Ren reeled back at that. “What?” he yelped. He wanted to say that was impossible, but it wasn’t like Yu to lie to him, and he’d seen enough things today that stretched credulity. So instead he asked, “How?”

In response, Yu pulled something out of his pocket. He held it up about eye level, allowing Ren to see a clear glass or crystal sphere, about the size of a golf ball. He told Ren, “At the end of my journey, I was granted this as the realization of all my efforts to search for the truth back in Inaba. It’s called the Orb of Sight, and it allows me to see through illusions and find the truth.” He looked at the orb pensively and added, “Though after leaving Inaba, there hadn’t been anything strange to see through until Christmas Eve, when nobody else could see that Mementos had merged with the real world. And now we have all this.” He gestured at their surroundings, apparently indicating the world at large.

That was a fair explanation for _why_ Yu noticed something was wrong, but not _what_. “So what’s the illusion?” Ren insisted. “What do you see?”

Rather than answer, Yu looked around the area. Then he turned to face an apartment complex across the street. “Do you see that?” he asked, indicating a group of people gathered in a small courtyard between buildings.

“The woman and small girl playing with a dog?” Ren asked. He’d seen that group playing around there before, when he’d wandered around the neighborhood.

Yu nodded, opened his mouth to say something, then paused. “I want to try something,” he said instead. He held out the orb to Ren and said, “Try touching this and looking at them.”

Ren blinked at the little ball, then reached out to touch it. He didn’t know what would happen, but he trusted Yu, and he wanted to know what was going on.

He gently rested two fingers on the sphere and looked at the group across the street. At first nothing happened, aside from maybe a slight feeling like he was straining his eyes. Then the scene flickered for a moment, followed by something like TV static fuzzing across his vision. He squinted slightly, trying to see more clearly, but the static grew worse until his whole vision was obscured, before it disippitated somewhat. Except now instead of seeing one image, he saw two superimposed on each other, like an old TV that was tuned into two stations at once: one image was the one he saw before, of the woman and child playing happily with the dog. The other image had no dog, with the woman and child just standing there sadly.

Then his vision fuzzed over again, accompanied by a sharp, stabbing headache. He flinched, hissing at the pain, and snatched his hand away from the orb to grab at his head. Immediately Yu stuffed the sphere back in his pocket and grabbed onto Ren’s shoulder. “Hey, you alright?” the man asked anxiously.

“Yeah,” Ren gasped after a moment. “Sudden headache. It’s clearing already.” To try and help the pain ebb away, he pushed up his glasses so he could rub at his eyes. When he blinked them open, the world looked normal again. No static or fuzz, and the family was back to playing with the dog. 

“What did you see?” Yu asked. So Ren told him, which made Yu’s brow furrow slightly. 

“Hmm, that’s not quite what it looks like for me,” Yu mused. Ren tilted his head curiously, so Yu explained. “I see two scenes as well, but there’s no static or anything. Just the two images laid over each other, which is mildly disorienting, but I can tell which is the truth and which is the illusion. And there’s no headache, obviously. Maybe the Orb is just not meant for anyone else to use.”

Ren certainly had no desire to try using the thing again. Instead he considered the implications of what he'd seen. Thinking aloud, he said, “I’ve seen that family around here before, and I’ve overheard them talking. The dog was sick for a while. So maybe the two images are different outcomes, one where the dog gets better and another where the dog gets worse and dies?”

Yu stared at the family, looking so sad that Ren could predict the next thing that came out of his mouth: “The truth is the one with no dog in it.”

Nodding, Ren kept considering the theory. “So the illusion is the better outcome. That would match some of the other things I’ve seen. Ryuji on good terms with the track team instead of being kicked out. Shiho here instead of having moved away.”

Yu hummed thoughtfully, then shook his head. “That doesn’t fit Morgana, though. When I looked at him, I saw both the cat form and the human form sitting in that chair. Unless you can think of any event that could have resulted in him being either human or a cat, that’s just straight up defying reality.”

After spending a moment trying to think up possible reasons, Ren had to agree. “No, you’re right. Unless the event was whether Igor initially made him as a human or a cat, there’s nothing I know of that could have caused this.”

The pair stared at the happy dog across the street before Yu ventured, “Then perhaps, all the changes are just pleasant lies disguising uncomfortable truths.”

While the reasoning made sense, that made it even harder to understand what was happening. “But how?” Ren asked, somewhat desperately. “How would a lie become reality? And how would everybody’s lies become reality so strongly that everyone else can see it?” And hear it, he realized as he heard the dog across the street bark. And talk to it, considering he and Yu had spoken to Morgana. And presumably touch it, since human-Morgana had been drinking a coffee that Boss had made him.

Yu stared off into space, an intense look of concentration on his face as he considered the issue. Eventually, sounding very uncertain, he ventured, “...Something about cognition? That seems to be the answer for a lot of questions of ‘how could this happen’ this year.” 

Well, that was something to consider. But what could simultaneously influence the cognition of every person in...how far did these illusions go? All of Tokyo? The entirety of Japan? The whole world? Even if it was just Tokyo, the only thing Ren knew of that could influence the public's cognition this much was…

“...But we beat Yaldaboth, right?” Ren looked up at Yu, suddenly wondering if he’d messed something up somehow. “I shot him in the face. Did he not die after all?”

Yu had looked briefly puzzled at the name, but understanding dawned as Ren continued to talk. “I definitely saw you shoot him in the face. Which was really cool to watch, by the way,” he said, giving Ren a bright smile. It disappeared swiftly as he continued, “But I don’t know. Maybe he isn’t gone yet. Or maybe this is caused by something else.” 

He looked conflicted for a moment, brow furrowed and eyes flicking between possibilities before he seemed to settle on something. Looking decisively into Ren’s eyes, he said, “Let’s seek the truth. I’ll see if I can find anything else. You let me know if you do the same.”

Ren gave him a firm nod. “Right. If something’s messing with the world we worked so hard to save, there’s no way we can leave it alone.”

They split up to get to work. Ren started by poking around Yongen-jaya, while Yu went off to do his own thing. Aside from noticing more inconsistencies between the past and the present, Ren didn’t find anything else to work with for the rest of the day. 

The next morning Akechi showed up at Leblanc, and by that evening Ren was able to tell Yu exactly what was causing the mass illusion.

**Confidant: Yu Narukami**   
**Arcana: World**   
**Rank: 6**


	8. The Sixth Tale - The Mentor’s Mask

Ren spent a week tracking down each of the Phantom Thieves and trying to carefully nudge them towards remembering that something was wrong. After he left the last one to think things over, he was fairly certain they were all on the right track, but he didn’t know if they’d remember in time. Tomorrow was the day he was going back to Odaiba with Akechi, after all.

He felt too anxious to just sit around and wait for tomorrow. He considered finding something distracting to do, but didn’t think he’d be able to focus. He really just wanted to talk to someone about how things were going. There were exactly three people in the world who would understand what he was talking about, and only one he felt comfortable going into detail with, so he decided to text Yu.

**Ren:** Hey, how're you doing?  
 **Yu:** I’m fine. I’ve noticed a few new things about the current situation, though I’m not certain they’ll be helpful to you.  
 **Yu:** How’re things on your end?  
 **Ren:** I tracked down all the Thieves and spoke to them. Now I have to wait and see.  
 **Ren:** Want to meet up and compare notes?  
 **Yu:** Sure. Leblanc again?  
 **Ren:** Well, Morgana’s around, but he’s been hanging around outside, so that should be fine.  
 **Yu:** OK. It may take me longer than usual to get there, but I’ll see you soon.

* * *

It was more than 45 minutes later when Yu arrived at Leblanc. Ren had passed the time by making himself a cup of coffee, then getting everything ready to make one for Yu. Beans were ground, water was boiling, and everything was set up so that the moment the older WIld Card stepped in the door, Ren started pouring the water over the ground beans. He’d already learned that Yu’s coffee order was always “surprise me,” so he’d be fine with whatever Ren chose to make him.

With their drinks in hand, the two of them headed up to Ren’s room. After they took a seat on the couch, Yu asked, “So how’s everyone else?”

Ren took a sip of his coffee before answering, “Well, by the time I finished talking to each of the Thieves, they seemed to realize something was off. I’m not sure yet if they’ll remember everything in time. And Morgana did say that we’re Phantom Thieves, but he didn’t give any indication that he knew what that meant. I’m not quite sure how that works in his head. Though of course this thing is still here,” he said, indicating the Phantom Thieves banner hung up on the wall behind the couch.

Yu nodded and said, “I have noticed that people tend to just ignore or gloss over anything they say or do that contradicts what they’ve done before.”

Ren snorted at that. “So if Maruki can’t make something fit neatly in his pretty little world, he just keeps people from paying attention.”

“Sounds about right,” Yu agreed. “I keep hearing things like ‘Didn’t this store go out of business? Oh, whatever,’ and then they just go on shopping like they hadn’t said anything. And meanwhile I can see that yes, that particular store is closed down in reality.”

Ren had been kind of curious about how things looked to Yu. So he asked, “How does that even work for you? Do you see people walking into closed buildings and stuff?”

Yu pulled a face like he’d eaten something bitter. “It’s...strange. Any time I see the true and the fake versions of the world directly contradicting, it’s rather disorienting. Things like people walking into places that they shouldn’t be able to, or interacting with things or people that aren’t real. At best it’s like a video game modeling glitch, with objects just phasing through each other with no respect for boundaries. At worst it starts to give me a headache if I pay too close attention.” 

When Ren tried to picture that, he could imagine things going through each other well enough, but didn’t have any frame of reference to whatever else Yu was implying. So he just said, “Sounds like you shouldn’t pay too close attention if you don’t need to.”

Yu gave a wry smile at that and said, “Yeah, I’ve been trying not to, for the sake of my own mental health,” His expression grew more serious as he continued, “But more concerning than that is the fact that as time goes by, it’s getting harder to tell the fake from the real.”

“What?!” Ren said with a jolt that nearly spilled his coffee. He checked to make sure that nothing had dripped on his pants, then set the cup on the table beside the couch.

Yu sipped at his own coffee until Ren was settled before continuing, “Right now it’s just small differences that are blurring together. Expressions, mostly. Like a store clerk who usually looks bored, but currently looks cheerful and eager. But in that case, the only reason I can tell things aren’t the way they should be is that I’ve seen that particular clerk a few times a week for over a year and know what they usually act like. But bigger differences, like cognitions of absent people, are still easy to tell apart.”

Ren’s brow furrowed in worry. “Does that mean it’ll get to the point where Maruki’s reality is the only reality?” If they had a limited time to fix things, then was spending a whole week just talking to the Thieves really the best use of his time? He could have talked to two or three a day if he’d known this was happening.

“It’s hard to tell yet,” Yu answered, “But if so, at the rate things are going, you have some time before that happens. Don’t rush,” he urged.

As Ren was considering the implications of all this, Yu added, “One weird side effect of seeing everything is that I see Mementos whenever I go in the subway.”

Ren was surprised to hear that, but on further reflection, it made sense. If Mementos is merged with the real world, like on Christmas Eve, then why wouldn’t Mementos look like itself? “Does that mean you can see Shadows when you’re riding the subway?” he asked.

Yu looked amused at the question. “Yes, but all the ones I’ve seen have run away. It seems like the regular subway sticks to the highest levels of Mementos, where the Shadows are too weak to bother me.“

Yeah, nothing at the higher levels would be anything close to a challenge for Yu. Except…“Wait, what about the Reaper? Have you spent long enough on one floor for it to show up?”

“So far, there’s been no sign of it,” was the man’s reply. “Granted, I’ve been avoiding the subway. Whether or not the Shadows are a threat, it’s still fairly disturbing to look at. Partly because the people riding the subway tend to look like their Shadow versions while in Mementos. So I’ve been sticking to buses or taxis. That’s why it took me longer than usual to get here today.”

It was reasonable that he’d want to avoid the subway if it looked like that. Even after spending many hours in it himself, Ren still found it unsettling. Though he noted, “Probably just as well your outfit doesn’t change in Mementos. That would just make things weirder.”

Yu chuckled at the observation before continuing, “I also found that my other friends who are Persona-users don’t notice anything unusual. At least Rise and Naoto, they’re still in Tokyo so it was easy enough to check on them. I didn’t poke at them too hard about it, but they seem mostly normal. If there’s any changes for them in this world, they don't seem too dramatic, maybe their work is going a bit better. They seem happy.” 

That made Ren pause, his expression falling. His own friends seemed happy, too. Maybe more happy than they’d been before Maruki did all this.

Noticing the hesitation, Yu asked, “What’s wrong?”

The boy didn’t answer right away, but faced with Yu’s expectant expression, he eventually said, “If everyone’s happy...is it really right to take this away from them?” He looked to Yu for an answer, but the man only tilted his head curiously. So Ren continued the thought. “I mean, Haru’s dad is alive again, and Futaba’s mom, and Makoto’s dad. Should I really take their parents away from them again?”

Yu looked pensive and took a long sip of his coffee before replying, “What do you think your friends would say if they knew all this was a lie?”

...What _would_ they think? Ren knew it all was a lie, and he didn’t want it to stay. But would they? Would they rather live in this pleasant dream, or would they rather face their harsh reality?

When Yu didn’t get a reply, he said, “How about this: if any one of them realized that Maruki had forcibly altered their cognition, would they want it to stay? Or if they knew he’d done it to one of your other friends?”

When he put it that way, Ren found it easier to consider how his friends would react. Thinking aloud, he said, “Well, Ryuji would probably complain that another shitty adult is doing whatever he wants to kids again. Futaba would get upset that someone's trying to hide the truth from her again. Makoto...and Haru...actually, pretty much everyone would be angry that someone's trying to mold their life to be whatever _they_ think it should be. They wouldn’t want to be robbed of the chance to choose their own path.” 

...Yeah, when it came down to it, every one of them would rebel at the knowledge that someone else was deciding the way their lives should be. That’s basically what they’d been doing from the moment they awakened their Personas.

Yu smiled warmly at the answer. “Yeah, that’s the kind of feeling I got from them. Besides, erasing all the memories of pain and struggle also deprives them of all the growth they’ve done because of it. You’ve talked to all of them about some kind of trouble they’d been having, right?” When Ren nodded, Yu continued, “If they’re anything like my friends, they probably all ended up understanding themselves better, and came out stronger for it.”

He wasn’t wrong. All his friends ended up not only mentally stronger, but also physically stronger, since their Personas evolved. And Yu probably knew that full well. 

Still, would they be strong enough to break free of Maruki’s influence? Ren really hoped so, but he had no way of knowing. It could be that when he and Akechi went back to Maruki’s Palace tomorrow, they’d end up facing the counselor on their own.

It would be really reassuring if they had backup. Even if the rest of the Thieves did remember and join them in time, they didn’t know everything Maruki was capable of yet. It was very likely the challenge ahead of them was their hardest one yet, and the fate of the world was at stake. 

He probably knew what Yu’s answer would be, but just in case, Ren asked, “Hey, do you want to come with us to the Palace tomorrow? It still might end up just being me and Akechi facing Maruki, and we could use your help.” 

To Ren’s surprise, Yu didn’t answer right away. Instead he frowned slightly, then tried to hide the expression by draining the rest of his coffee. Looking closer, Ren noticed that Yu seemed uncertain. When the man just stared at his empty cup and didn’t respond for a few moments, Ren asked, “Is something wrong?”

That prompted Yu to respond, “Oh, uh, not at all,” but he didn’t sound too sure about that. 

“What is it, then?” Ren asked.

Yu just shook his head and said, “It’s nothing,” but he wouldn’t look at his friend.

Well, something was clearly weighing on Yu. And if he didn’t want to talk about it, there was only one thing to do.

Ren sat up straight, looked Yu in the eye (as best he could when the man wouldn’t look at him) and said seriously, “Do we need to do the huddle?”

That startled Yu into looking at Ren, allowing him to make proper eye contact. “What?” he asked, sounding genuinely confused.

“The huddle,” Ren repeated. “From that time when we promised we’d talk to each other about our feelings and not ignore when someone was upset. Because I could still round up Morgana and Futaba, drag them over here and make us all shout ‘Feelings matter’ until you tell me what’s bothering you.”

That at least got Yu to chuckle. “Alright, point taken, you don’t need to go that far.” He fell silent again, but he looked thoughtful rather than upset, so Ren gave him a moment to gather his thoughts. 

Soon enough, Yu said, “Well...I do want to help you but...I still don’t know if I should.”

OK, that was progress. “Why not?” Ren prompted. 

Yu fidgeted with his empty coffee cup, turning it in his hands as he answered. “Because I don’t know if it would be right for me to interfere.” He glanced at Ren, then back at his coffee cup. “I mean, shooting a god in the face seems like it’d be the end of your journey, but what if it’s not? There was a point in my journey when we thought we’d stopped the one behind everything, but later I found out there was someone _else_ beyond that.”

“What, was someone else pulling the strings of that goddess?” Ren asked. That would not bode well for his own situation.

“Ah, no,” Yu hurriedly corrected. “She was the end. But there was someone before her that we thought was the one behind everything, and once we beat him we thought we were done.”

That made more sense to Ren, and was less concerning. “So that guy was more like Shido, then,” he observed.

“Something like that,” Yu agreed. “Anyway, this whole thing with Maruki could still be an important part of his journey that you have to overcome on your own. Or your journey could be over, and this is just some extra weirdness, like what my friends and I dealt with at the LMB Fest. Or maybe I was completely wrong about the Fool’s Journey thing, I could have been helping all along, and I just made things harder on you for no reason. I just don’t know.” The man slumped over a bit, looking glum.

That was not what Ren would have expected. Yu had always seemed so certain that he needed to stay out of this. “This has been bothering you for a while, hasn’t it?”

“Yeah,” Yu confirmed with a sigh. “Remember when we were all having that talk about feelings and I said I didn’t feel qualified to be talking about it? Well, that goes for most of the more serious subjects I’ve been talking to you about. I’ve been constantly making it up as I go and hoping I’m not making things worse.”

Ren could understand the logic, but mostly because he’d been doing the same thing in regards to leading the Thieves. Which meant... “So does that mean you’ve spent this whole time hiding your insecurity and feigning confidence in order to make me feel better?” Yu winced, but didn’t deny it. “Isn’t that exactly what you told me not to do?” he pressed.

Yu let out a bark of bitter laughter. “Yeah, I’m a hypocrite,” he confirmed. 

Well, Ren couldn’t let that be. He understood that the older Wild Card was trying to play the role of a good mentor, but he didn’t have to keep wearing that mask any more. “You don’t have to hide how you’re feeling. If you’re worried about something, we can figure it out together.” Though in this case he...needed to figure out how to figure it out. “Is there anyone who could tell us more about the Fool’s Journey thing?” he mused quietly aloud.

“Actually…” Yu said, which made Ren perk up hopefully. “I tried asking Lavenza about it, on Christmas Eve right after you all started heading up. But she basically said she couldn’t say anything.” The man shook his head ruefully and added, “I should have guessed that I wouldn’t get a straight answer out of anyone from the Velvet Room.”

Well, that sounded familiar to Ren. “So does that mean even the real Igor speaks in vague riddles and ominous hints? It wasn’t just Yaldaboth being purposely confusing?”

“Pretty much,” Yu said. “Unless he’s explaining the actual functions of the Velvet Room or Personas or something, in which case he’s somewhat clearer.”

“No point in trying to ask him, then,” Ren concluded. Was there anyone else that might be able to help them? He didn’t know anyone else who knew about Wildcards specifically, but for Tarot stuff… “I do know a fortune teller who uses Tarot cards. She should at least know what the Fool’s Journey is, and maybe she could figure something out.”

Yu shrugged at the suggestion. “You can ask her if you want,” he said, but he didn’t sound particularly enthusiastic about it. “I expect this is one of the Wildcard things we just have to figure out on our own.”

Sounds like he didn’t want to head over to Shinjuku now and see if they could find Chihaya now, then. Ren had been just about ready to do that. Instead he tried a different line of questioning. “Well, do you have any reason to believe that staying out of things would have a good or bad result?”

“Actually, yes,” Yu said. Wait, really? Why didn’t he start with that? “It occurred to me that the new Persona you summoned to beat Yaldaboth was perfectly suited to the job. If I’d been in your place, I don’t think I would have been able to stop him.”

“What do you mean?” Ren asked.

Yu explained, “Well, I faced a goddess who was cloaking the world in a fog of lies, and I summoned a Persona that could make her see the truth. You faced a god that wanted to control people, and you summoned a Persona that, by some accounts, is a fallen angel that rebelled against God. You didn’t need truth to beat Yaldaboth, you needed defiance.” 

Huh, Ren hadn’t thought about that. He tried to picture Yu’s Persona facing off against Yaldaboth (which was hard to do because he barely remembered what the Persona looked like) and he had to admit they just didn’t match up. So he said, “Yeah, I guess anything other than that giant Persona wouldn’t really work.”

“Right, about that,” Yu said, looking a little more intent. “You drew on the power of your bonds to strengthen your Persona, right? I could feel it. Probably only because I was one of those bonds and I knew what that felt like already, but even so. And you even mustered the strength of all of Tokyo. I would have never been able to do that if I were in your position.”

“Alright, fair enough,” Ren said. “So that’s why you couldn’t help then. What about now? Do you know of any evidence that suggests you shouldn’t help now?”

Yu didn’t have an answer right away. He looked pensive for a moment before saying slowly, “Well...besides a general feeling of ‘it was the right choice before, maybe it’s still right now’..." He considered the question for a moment more before something occurred to him. "Oh, that new Persona of yours, Satanael. What Arcana is it?”

Ren didn’t know what that had to do with anything, but he answered, “Fool.”

“Not the World?” Yu asked. When Ren shook his head, Yu said, “Izanagi-no-Okami is the World, and summoning him pretty much marked the end of things for me.”

“So...what does that mean?” Ren asked. “Do you think I’ll summon something else later that’s the World? Because if I have to spontaneously summon something stronger than Satanael, I think we’re in trouble.”

Yu chuckled, but shook his head. “I don’t know if you’ll summon anything else like that, but I don’t think your journey’s done yet. Just trust your friends and the bonds you share with them, that they’ll pull through in time to help.”

It seemed his mind was made up on the matter. Ren still thought he could use all the help he could get, but he’d respect the man’s decision. “Alright. But if you ever change your mind, you can join in with us at any time.”

Yu looked to be considering the offer for a moment, then said, “Well...maybe it’d be OK for me to help out a little more.” Before Ren could get his hopes up, the man continued, “I still won’t fight with you. But whenever you call everyone to plan, let me know and I’ll join in. Maybe I can offer some insight.”

It was better than nothing, and the two of them spending more time talking things out together was unlikely to upset any kind of cosmic balance. Because if it was, they’d probably tipped that scale a long time ago. So Ren smiled and said, “Thanks, I appreciate the help.”

Yu nodded, and then his expression lightened. “Oh, and a little while ago I’d been talking to Haru about some vegetables I used to grow back in Inaba that had useful effects in the TV World. Things like healing status ailments or blocking certain kinds of attacks. I can have some seedlings sent over for you guys to use.” 

Ren perked up at that. “Really? Nice, that sounds like it’ll be really useful.” He’d heard bits of the conversation, and he was looking forward to trying some of those vegetables.

Ren had helped Haru with her gardening enough that he could hold up a conversation about it, so he and Yu chatted a bit about the various plants they’d worked with. After a while Morgana came up to ask Ren if he’d had dinner yet, and invited Yu to join them. The man took one look at the transformed cat, quickly glanced away and said he had to get going. Ren figured that particular illusion was too weird to watch. 

Even though Morgana had seemed to be noticing that things didn’t seem right, he still hadn’t remembered everything by the time they went to bed that night. Ren really hoped Yu was right and that everyone would pull through in time.

**Confidant: Yu Narukami**  
 **Arcana: World**  
 **Rank: 7**  
 **New Ability: Heirloom Vegetables - Allow cultivation of a greater variety of vegetables.**  
[Game mechanic: When growing vegetables, can choose to grow Bead Melon, Crack Wheat, Hiranya Cabbage, Return Daikon, Wall Paprika, Barrier Corn, or Scapegoat Eggplant.]


	9. The Seventh Tale - Twisted Games

A little while after Sumire joined the Phantom Thieves, Ren realized he should probably let Yu know what her whole story was, since it would probably be relevant for future discussions about Maruki. But it was probably not ideal to recount the story at a general Phantom Thieves meeting, mostly because everyone else already knew it all, and partly because it might be upsetting to Sumire to hear it retold so soon. 

He figured a one-on-one meeting was probably best, so he texted Yu about it. They ended up deciding to get burgers together after they got out of class for the day. 

The two Wild Cards met at the Big Bang Burger on Central Street, ordered 3 burgers each plus fries and sodas, and settled down in a booth in one corner. When they were halfway through their first burgers, Yu asked, “So you wanted to tell me what’s been going on with Sumire?”

Ren swallowed his mouthful of food and answered, “Well, for starters, all of last year I thought her name was Kasumi because _she_ thought her name was Kasumi.” Yu had just taken a big bite of burger, so he just tilted his head quizzically. Ren went on, “Kasumi was her sister. They were both gymnasts. Uh, Sumire still is...but whatever.” He waved a hand dismissively at the awkward phrasing and kept telling the tale between bites of food.

“Kasumi always did better at performances and Sumire was feeling down about it, so one day she ran away from her sister and into traffic. Kasumi pushed her out of the way, got hit by a car and died.” Yu winced at that. “Not surprisingly, Sumire thought her sister’s death was her fault. Her parents did the right thing and sent her to therapy, but unfortunately her therapist was Maruki. For some reason Maruki decided the best way to treat her survivor’s guilt and inferiority complex was to change her cognition to make her think she was her sister.” 

Yu snorted and shook his head ruefully. “Instead of being a proper therapist by helping her process her grief and build up her self-confidence.”

“Yup,” Ren agreed. “And I know he’s capable of being a good therapist. Shujin hired him for a while, all of us spoke to him about something and felt better afterward. So I don’t know why _that_ time he decided to mess with her head instead.” Ren shrugged and took a long sip of his soda before continuing.

“Anyway, on the day after New Years she did realize something was wrong and could kind of see Maruki’s lab, so her, me and Akechi went to explore it. Maruki kept showing us bits of her past until she remembered what had happened, but she freaked out, wouldn’t accept it, and passed out. Maruki tried to say everyone would be happier living the lies he’d made for them, kicked me out of the lab and told me to go check on all my friends and see how happy they were.”

Yu smiled and noted, “So instead you convinced them all they weren’t really happy after all.”

With a smirk, Ren spread his hands wide and said, “What can I say, we’re all too rebellious to look the other way when we realize someone’s messing with us.” He dropped his hands and continued, “They did take some time to realize it though, so Akechi and I went back to face Maruki without them. Sumire woke up, but still wanted to live as Kasumi, so Maruki theoretically tried to help her somehow by having a bunch of tentacles grab her, which made her Persona go berserk. I have no idea how that was supposed to make anything better.” 

“Well, that sounds like the setup for a bad hentai anime,” Yu commented. “Where did the tentacles even come from?”

“Apparently his Persona? Somehow?” Ren shrugged. “Closest I’ve seen to anything like it is when Futaba awakened her Persona, which looked like a UFO at the time. It used a few tentacles to grab her and pull her inside. But that was obviously not malicious, and had a clear point of origin, unlike the random tentacles Maruki made appear out of nowhere.”

Yu glanced around to make sure nobody in the restaurant was close enough to hear what they were saying, before he answered, “Could it be an effect of him being in his Palace? Maybe it lets him affect what’s in it more?” He considered the idea for a moment, then added, “Then again, he can already influence the whole city, so who knows what other powers he has.”

“Yeah…” Ren said. It was kind of sobering to think Maruki could do even more strange things. He hoped the doctor didn’t have too many more tricks up his sleeve. He munched solemnly on some fries before getting back to his story. 

“So then next time we went into the Palace with Sumire, she awakened properly.” Ren paused there, then asked, “I mentioned how we awaken, right?”

“Yeah,” Yu confirmed. “Something about spirit of rebellion, fighting against injustice and ripping off your masks?”

“Right,” Ren said. “Well, the first time Sumire awakened, when she thought she was Kasumi, it looked more like a magical girl transformation. All random sparkly lights and a costume that appeared bit by bit. I didn’t think anything of it at the time, but I’ve never seen an awakening like that before.”

“Yeah, me neither,” Yu told him. “Sounds pretty, but also very strange.”

“That about sums it up,” Ren said, nodding. “But when she awakened properly, once she knew who she was again, she resolved to live as herself and ripped her mask off, with blood gushing everywhere like usual.”

“Hey, talking about copious amounts of blood is not exactly dinner table conversation. You could make someone lose their appetite,” Yu commented, then took another big bite of burger.

Ren used a fry to flick some ketchup on Yu’s face. “There, now you look good and bloody.”

Yu said, “But you’re the one who has to look at me, so you’re only sabotaging your own appetite,” then kept eating.

A tiny splatter of red was hardly going to bother Ren, so he just shrugged and ate his fry. He wondered how long Yu was going to leave the ketchup on his face, since the man had made no move to wipe it off.

After swallowing his latest mouthful of food, Yu commented, “Her true awakening reminds me of how all my friends awakened.”

Intrigued, Ren said, “Oh? How so?”

Yu answered, “Well, I mentioned that all of them had to face their Shadows, all the parts of themself they didn’t want to admit. And they all rejected them at first, which made the Shadows go berserk and turn into big monsters we had to fight. Then when they finally resolved to face their Shadows and accept them, they turned into Personas.”

Ren thought about that, then said, “Yeah, that’s pretty much a one-for-one match. Except Cendrillon didn’t turn into a monster, just got meaner.” 

Yu shrugged. “For most of my friends, the monsters that their Shadows turned into looked a lot like what their Personas ended up being. And all the Shadows you fight in the Metaverse look no different when you make them your Personas.”

“True,” Ren said. Then something about Yu’s phrasing struck him. “Hey, you kept saying ‘they.’ Did you not awaken to your Persona that way?”

Yu didn’t answer right away, opting to take a long gulp of soda first. When he finished, he simply said, “No, I didn’t.”

That sounded like only half an answer. “Do you not want to tell me how you awakened?” Ren asked.

After humming thoughtfully for a moment, Yu answered, “I suppose since you’ve already shot down a god it’s OK to tell you. I didn’t want to mention it before because I didn't know what kicked off your journey. You see, my Persona was actually granted to me by the goddess Izanami as part of a twisted game.” Ren snorted at hearing a god had used his friend in another weird game, but didn’t interrupt. 

Yu continued, “She picked three people and granted us powers, decided each of us represented a concept, then watched what we did. She figured whoever had the biggest impact on people meant that their concept was what humanity wanted. I was Hope, and the other two people were Emptiness and Despair. Eventually Emptiness ‘won,’ so she was going to flood the world with fog and turn everyone into Shadows, but we stopped her in time.”

Ren chewed on that for a moment. “So basically she would have destroyed everyone. That frankly sounds worse than robbing everyone of free will. And what is it with gods setting people up in weird games where if they lose, the god destroys humanity?”

Yu laughed mirthlessly at that. “Yeah, when we heard that you’d been dragged into a similar game, and one that was actively rigged against you, I was actually furious. I’m kind of sick of gods upending people’s lives for their own amusement.”

“Furious? Really? I couldn’t tell,” Ren commented.

“Well, if anyone had been looking at me when we heard about that in the Velvet Room, they probably would have noticed. I don’t think I was doing a very good job of staying calm right then.” Yu shrugged. “This is actually the fourth time I’ve been somehow involved in a god messing with people. Besides Izanami and the dancing thing, there was another god who forced me and my friends into a weird fighting tournament against each other, and in a convoluted way was trying to use that to destroy the world. So I’ve had just about enough of dealing with gods.”

...A fighting tournament to destroy the world? How would that even work? Then again, Yu had said it was convoluted, so maybe he’d just leave it at that. Going back to the part of his story that made more sense, Ren said, “So you were Hope, just like Morgana.”

“More or less,” Yu answered. “I wasn’t literally made of hope like he was. Just a designated representative. It’s not like I have random hope powers or anything.”

“No, just random truth powers,” Ren pointed out with a smirk.

“Hey, I worked hard for those truth powers,” Yu countered. Then after a pause he added, “Even though they appear to be extremely situational.”

Ren grinned and said, “Maybe I’ll end up with situational rebellion powers.”

“You mean besides summoning a demon lord and shooting a god in the head?” Yu pointed out. “Because until now, I thought my truth powers were good for exactly one situation, which had already happened.”

“Maybe the situation is killing gods who are messing with people,” Ren proposed. “You’ve just pointed out that it keeps happening.”

Yu actually considered that for a bit, while munching on the last of his burger. “You know, that might actually make the world a better place. I am seriously sick of gods messing with people. If you ever have a chance to kill a god again, let me know how it goes.”

“Oh, sure,” Ren said seriously. “I’ll just put ‘god slayer’ on my resume and see if anyone takes me up on it.”

“Or have Futaba make you a website,” Yu said. He held up a hand as if dictating a title and said, “Joker: God Slayer for Hire. Clients must provide proof that the god in question is malevolent.”

“If I start a god slaying business, you’re on call as a consultant, since you’ve dealt with more of them than me,” Ren informed him.

Yu nodded and said, “I look forward to making business cards that say ‘God-Slaying Consultant,’ then.”

At that point they’d run out of food, and also serious topics to talk about. Ren had nothing planned for the afternoon, so he invited Yu to play games at the nearby arcade. As they went to throw out their garbage, Ren noted that Yu still hadn’t wiped off the ketchup on his face, and decided to wait and see how long it took him to remember it.

**Confidant: Yu Narukami**   
**Arcana: World**   
**Rank: 8**


	10. The Eighth Tale - Schrodinger's Cat

Ren sat alone in an empty Leblanc. Maruki had come and gone, and the calling card was delivered. Things were all set up for their last heist. And yet...Ren couldn’t deny the implication about Akechi left him a bit shaken. There was the possibility that Maruki was lying, but Akechi agreed with him. Could he really be…?

...There was one person who could give him a clear answer right now. He pulled out his phone and slowly started to compose a text message.

 **Ren:** Maruki came by, as we expected. I delivered the calling card.  
**Yu:** That’s great. All ready for the big heist tomorrow?

Ren started to type, erased his answer and started over, then changed his mind a few more times before he finally sent his message.

 **Ren:** Maruki mentioned something. Do you have time to talk about it?  
**Yu:** I’ll be there as soon as possible.

Ren was starting to wonder if Yu kept dropping everything to come talk to him, but he wasn’t going to complain right now. He got up and started making coffee, just to have something to do while he waited for Yu. He hoped it’d get his mind off what Maruki had said. It was only mildly successful.

He was sitting at one of the booths with two cups of coffee when Yu walked in. The man slid into the seat opposite Ren and asked, “So what happened?”

Ren cupped the coffee cup in his hands, feeling the warmth of it as he slowly said, “Well, Maruki said he thought it was tragic, how things went in Shido’s Palace. He thought I might regret what happened, so he made a reality where Akechi and I ‘could have a fresh start together,’” he said, making air quotes at the last bit. 

He fell silent, so Yu asked, “And what did you think of that?”

Ren fidgeted with his coffee cup, then took a sip before answering, “Well, I didn’t really like what Maruki was implying. Then he claimed he didn’t mean to seem like he was holding Akechi hostage, and then Akechi - oh, he was listening outside, so Maruki called him in - Akechi said he didn’t think ‘dangling my life before us’ would change our decision. And that just basically confirmed what Maruki was implying. And when I said Akechi didn’t seem surprised, he said he suspected already, but didn’t have conclusive evidence.”

Ren felt like he was rambling a bit now, but he kept going because he wasn’t sure he’d be able to start again if he stopped. “So after Maruki left, Akechi said he refused to live in a reality where he’s controlled by someone else, and that the threat to his life is trivial bullshit, and when I tried to say it’s not trivial, he insisted it _is_ and he doesn’t want mercy or pity, and he asked me to tell him straight out what my decision was, and I said we’re going after Maruki, but even though I said that I’m not sure if that’s really the right thing to do here. I mean is he really...and does that mean...” his headlong rush of words started to stumble, so he paused to catch his breath for a moment. Then he looked up at Yu and asked simply, “Is he really dead?”

Yu did not look surprised at the story or the question, and had a solemn look on his face as he answered, “He actually asked me the same thing, a few weeks back. I’m going to tell you the same thing I told him: I don’t know. He looks different from anyone else I’ve seen.”

So Akechi had suspected this for weeks already. It shouldn’t be a surprise that he decided not to say anything about it. That aside, Ren didn’t know yet if Yu's answer was a good or bad thing. He gripped his coffee cup more tightly and tentatively asked, “Different how?”

“Well, I think I’ve mentioned that to me, cognitions look transparent, and where anything’s changed I see double images,” Yu began. Ren nodded silently, so Yu continued, “Akechi is neither. He looks solid, except there’s a slight waver to him, kind of like faint ripples all over. I can touch him, so he’s not a cognition, but otherwise I don’t know what that means.”

‘Not a cognition’ was a slight relief to Ren, but there was still so much uncertainty that he couldn’t take much comfort in it. He tried to picture what Yu was describing. “Ripples all over...like a safe room?” he asked.

Yu tilted his head slightly and asked, “What’s a safe room?”

Ren was surprised at the question, before he remembered…”Oh, right, you haven’t actually been in any Palaces.” He took a sip of coffee to give himself a moment to sort his explanation, then said, “So inside Palaces, there are occasionally rooms where the ruler’s cognition is weak, which means the distortion and the ruler’s influence is light. Shadows can’t enter those rooms, so they’re safe places for us to rest and regroup. From the outside, the doors to them have prominent ripples all over them.”

Yu hummed pensively, then said, “If they’re places where the Palace ruler’s influence is less, that seems like it matches how Akechi seems to be less influenced by the false world. He did notice something was wrong right away, after all.”

That did sound like a good point, and Ren tried to be hopeful about it. Yet that didn’t really tell him what he wanted to know. “But what does that even mean?” he asked, sounding a little desperate. “What’s going on with him?”

Yu tapped his fingers against the side of his coffee cup for a moment, then said, “I think he’s like Schrodinger's cat.”

...Whose cat? It was certainly like Yu to work cats into the conversation somehow, but Ren had no idea how that was relevant. At his obviously confused expression, Yu explained, “It’s a thought experiment proposed by a physicist named Schrodinger. In short, he suggested a situation where a cat is sealed in a box where it can’t be observed, and a device is set up that could, at any random time, release poison and kill the cat. So since at any given moment nobody can be sure if the cat is alive or dead, then it’s _both_ alive and dead until it’s observed again.”

Ren had to take several long moments to sort through that, during which Yu finally took a swig of his coffee. Eventually Ren said, “So you’re saying he’s both alive and dead at the same time?”

Yu shrugged. “I’m saying until we have any proof one way or another, he may as well be.”

OK, well...that made about as much sense as anything else in this situation. And ‘alive until proven otherwise’ was better than ‘definitely dead.’ But still…“So what would happen to him if we steal Maruki’s Treasure?”

“Then we’ll open Schrodinger’s box and observe the cat.” Yu answered. 

Yeah, that was pretty much what Ren expected, even though it didn’t tell him anything he hadn’t already figured out. Which meant it didn’t make it any easier to figure out what to do. 

He silently stared at his cooling coffee for long enough that Yu eventually said, “You mentioned you’re not sure that going after Maruki is the right decision. Why? What has you feeling conflicted?”

That at least gave Ren _some_ direction to start sorting his thoughts, so he tried to pull them into order. Haltingly, he began, “It’s not just this. The thing with Maruki, I mean. It’s...everything with Akechi’s situation.” He waved a hand vaguely in the air to suggest ‘everything.’ “Like, yeah, he’s done terrible things. But there was a reason for it, the same reason I got wrapped up in this whole thing. So like...I can relate, I guess.”

“Do you think his actions were justified, considering the circumstances?” Yu asked.

Ren started to shake his head but aborted the action before he’d hardly gotten started and sighed instead. “I mean, no matter the reason, what he did wasn’t right, but...I think it was Haru who put it pretty well, back in the engine room. I can’t forgive him, but I can sympathise with him. Besides, he’s important to me. He’s one of my precious bonds, you know?” He didn’t even need to see Yu’s nod to confirm the other Wild Card knew what he meant. 

Ren thought back to the single black glove that was stashed among his most treasured keepsakes and said quietly, “I never wanted him to die. And I keep wondering if I could have saved him if I’d figured things out earlier, found some way to get him away from Shido and give him a second chance. Then out of the blue he was alive after all, just as we’re hearing Shido’s being taken down for real, and it was the Christmas present I didn’t know I wanted.” He flopped heavily back against his seat and said, “I really want to give him that second chance now, but I can’t figure out how to do it without dooming the world.”

He stared off into space for a moment, then shifted his head slightly to look at Yu and asked, “Did you ever have anything like this? Where you had to choose between saving one person and saving a bunch?”

Yu considered that for a moment, then shook his head. “Not really. I suppose the closest I had was deciding whether or not to push the kidnapper into the TV after my cousin had died. But even then, rather than ‘save one person or save many,’ my choice was more like ‘get revenge or get answers.’” He met Ren’s eyes and regretfully said, “But even if I had been in a similar situation, my answer shouldn’t have any bearing on yours. This is your decision, and I can’t make it for you. You have to find the truth of the matter yourself.”

Ren scowled, though he was more mad at the situation than at Yu. He snapped, “One person shouldn’t get to decide the truth for the whole world. Not me, Maruki, or anyone else!”

Yu wearily nodded. “I'm with you there." A small, encouraging smile crept onto his face as he added, "But there is still hope. Until we know for sure what happened to Akechi, anything is possible.”

Sure, _anything_ was possible. Including the chance that whatever Ren chose, it could get messed up somehow. He could fight against Maruki and lose, then have everything rewritten to take away his free will even more. Or he could decide to fight Maruki, only to find that Maruki had rewritten the world to make himself unbeatable. Or he could decide to take the deal and save Akechi, only for him to be rewritten to someone unrecognizable in the name of ‘“letting him be happy.” Or he could take the deal, Akechi would be allowed to stay the same, but since Akechi had made it very clear that he didn’t want to live in Maruki’s world, he might decide to take himself out of it. There were just too many possibilities, and the more he thought about it, the more bad outcomes he thought of on both sides.

He was snapped out of his thoughts when Yu said, “I agree that nobody should be responsible for deciding the fate of the whole world. But we already have, both of us. Deciding whether to stop a well-meaning man with a god complex may be harder than deciding whether to stop an actual god that's filling the world with Shadows, but we still have to choose.”

Ren definitely didn’t feel like the fate of the world should be in his hands right now. What was even wrong with him, that he was having this much trouble choosing between letting everyone in the world have free will, or saving one guy who’d made it abundantly clear he didn’t _want_ to be saved? Whenever he looked at it logically, the choice seemed clear, but still he hesitated. “Why us?” he grumbled, not really expecting an answer. 

Yu smiled bitterly at the question. “I have a feeling the only person who could possibly answer that is a certain long-nosed man who’s not fond of giving straight answers.” 

Ren gave a mirthless snort of laughter at that. Sounded about right. In fact, the real Igor had barely said a thing to him. Lavenza was more forthcoming, but there was a decisive limit to the kinds of things she would tell him.

Silence hung in the air for a few moments, until Yu spoke up. “You know, in a way, everyone makes their own truth. Maruki’s truth is that everyone deserves to be happy, no matter what it takes to make that happen. Akechi’s truth is that life isn’t worth much if it’s spent living under someone’s thumb.” He fixed Ren with a piercing look and asked, “So what’s your truth?”

Ren was taken aback by the question. It seemed like the opposite of what Yu was usually saying, to look for the truth instead of believing whatever you felt like. He sat up as he considered the two examples further, then frowned and said, “Wait a sec, neither of those are objective truths. They’re opinions.”

Yu fired back, “If someone believes an opinion so strongly that they’ll base their whole life around it, doesn’t that make it true to them?”

...It was kind of hard to refute that, no matter how much Ren thought about it. Sure, an opinion might be false to one person but true to others, which made it true at least sometimes. Even a simple opinion, like “coffee is tasty” would be true to some people and false to others. An opinion didn’t have to be the focus of your life to be true. And a truth didn’t have to be objective to still be true. 

But that didn’t mean that if something was true for one person, then they got to decide it was true for everyone else. 

Ren's brow furrowed as he continued that line of thought. So thinking back to Yu’s question, what was his truth? Was it that anything was justified if it could make everyone happy, like Maruki? Was it that there could be no happiness without free will, like Akechi? Or something else?

The more Ren thought about it, the more determined he became to not let anyone sway him from determining the truth for himself. No matter what anyone tried, no matter how anyone tried to influence him, he was resolved to think things through clearly and decide for himself. He wouldn't let anyone try to control his mind again.

Ren considered Maruki’s offer one more time. Then he made his choice.

 **Confidant: Yu Narukami**  
**Arcana: World**  
**Rank: 9**  
**New Ability: Mental Clarity - Immune to all non-special status effects that affect the mind.**  
[Game mechanic: Always block Dizzy, Forget, Confuse, Fear, Despair, Rage, and Brainwash from taking effect on Joker.]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For Yu, a closer situation to “save one person or save the world” would be the accomplice ending, but since in this fic he’s clearly been through the true ending, he never would have been confronted with the decision that could have resulted in the accomplice ending.


	11. The Ninth Tale - The Tale's End

Ren hadn't exactly been counting down the days, but he was still keenly aware that this was his last full day in Tokyo before he headed home. He didn’t know when, if ever, he’d get to see most of his friends again. So he was trying to make the most of the day, going around the city to check in with everyone one last time.

For most of his friends and confidants, it was very easy to find them. They tended to have their usual hangouts, so finding them would be as easy as visiting all the places that had meant the most to him in the city. But there was one person who was never in the same place twice, yet never failed to come running when called. So before Ren headed out for the day, he started typing out a text message to arrange one last meetup.

Soon Ren was standing in the train station, not far from the line where just a few months past, a total stranger had unexpectedly started talking to Morgana. He had no idea whether it was a strange coincidence or a twist of fate that they ran into each other, but he ended up being extremely grateful that the cat had insisted on riding around in his bag all the time.

He wasn't waiting long before someone ducked through the crowd and headed towards him. He smiled at the sight and raised one hand to wave at Yu. Except both his hands were holding to-go cups of coffee, so it was more like he was raising a toast. But when Yu returned the greeting, it turned out he was holding a paper bag in each hand, so it worked out.

When they were in speaking distance, Yu noted, "Looks like we both had the same idea. Why don't we find a place to sit down?"

"Works for me," Ren agreed, and they wandered through the station looking for a seat. 

They ended up heading out into the square before they found a free bench. Once they’d settled down, Ren traded one of his cups of coffee for one of Yu’s paper bags. He could smell the greasy scent of something fried even before he peered into the bag. “Croquettes, how appropriate,” he noted at the sight of the crispy treats.

“I figured it would be,” Yu said before taking a sip of his coffee. Then immediately started coughing. Ren had to fight to keep the anticipatory smirk off his face as he waited for his friend’s reaction. 

When Yu got his breathing under control he asked, wheezing slightly, “Tried something different?”

Ren couldn’t hold back any more and grinned as he answered, “Surprise.”

“Well, I suppose I should have expected something like this eventually,” Yu said, his voice evening out. “What’d you add in, hot sauce?”

“Nah, Boss doesn’t have any hot sauce. I used cayenne pepper,” Ren answered.

“I’m surprised Boss let you get away with that,” Yu commented, then took another sip.

Frowning at the sight, Ren said, “He didn’t notice. I _am_ a thief, I can be sneaky when I want to. And you don’t have to keep drinking that, you can have mine.” Playing a minor prank on Yu was all well and good, but he didn’t want his friend to actually suffer through terrible coffee. After spending the better part of the year as an apprentice barista, he took some pride in his coffee-brewing skills.

Yu shrugged. “It’s not that bad once you get used to it.” 

Ren raised an eyebrow and replied, "It seemed pretty bad when you were coughing and wheezing."

"It just caught me by surprise," Yu retorted. He sipped it again, then added, “I have a strong stomach, and why waste perfectly good coffee?”

Ren would argue that it didn’t count as ‘perfectly good coffee’ any more, but if Yu was fine with it, he may as well let it be. Instead he tried one of the croquettes Yu brought and found they held no surprises, just the typical beef and potatoes.

They enjoyed their coffee and croquettes for a moment before Ren said, “I wanted to thank you for always being there for me these past few months. It means a lot to me.”

Yu gave him a gentle smile and answered, “It was my pleasure. I just wish I could have done more.”

Ren shook his head firmly. “You did plenty. I don’t know how I’d have gotten through certain things without you.”

“You’re stronger than you give yourself credit for, I’m sure you’d have made it through just fine,” Yu refuted. “But I’m glad I could help.”

Ren was absolutely sure he would not have been fine, but he decided he didn’t want to argue at the moment. Instead he said, “Well either way, it’s all over now.”

There was a pause before realization dawned on Yu’s face and he said, “Oh right, you’re going home tomorrow, aren’t you?”

“Yup,” Ren agreed, “I’m spending the day going around saying goodbye to everyone.”

“Well, that’s nostalgic,” Yu said with a wistful look. “I did the same thing after my year in Inaba, checking in on everyone I’d formed bonds with before I had to leave.” 

Ren reviewed what he heard of Yu’s story and observed, “Right, you and me both got sent to live in a strange place for a year.”

“And we both ended up living with someone we didn’t know,” Yu added. “My uncle might be family, but when I moved to Inaba, I hadn’t seen him since I was a baby.”

“I bet you’re real close now, though,” Ren said. He smiled a little as he continued, “Me and Boss are practically family at this point.”

“You’ve got that right,” Yu agreed. “He and Nanako are very important to me. And it’s not just them. I met a bunch of other people who became irreplaceable friends.”

There really were quite a few similarities in their stories. Though Ren noted, “Too bad we have to leave them all at the end of it.”

“Hey just because you’re out of their vicinity doesn’t mean you’re out of their life,” Yu told him. “My team and I are still close. Even as everyone goes their separate ways, we stay in touch. And when we get together, it’s like we’ve never been apart. The bonds we’ve forged can’t be broken by something as simple as time or distance.”

That was good to know. Yu’s friends and Ren’s friends were different people, so there was no way to tell if they’d react the same, but it was certainly easier than ever to keep in touch when everyone was online all the time. As he reflected on this, he heard that ethereal voice (which sounded a lot like Lavenza) announced he’d forged a blood oath. 

As Ren felt the link solidify, Yu grinned at him. “There, now we have an unbreakable bond too,” the older Wild Card said. “So you know if you ever need anything, you can call on me.”

Ren had to smile back at him. “Sure, you too,” he agreed. “Though hopefully there won’t be any more supernatural stuff for a while. After shooting two gods in the face, I could use a break.”

Yu gave a curious tilt of the head at that and asked, “Two?”

Ren’s grin grew a bit wider as replied, “Weeeell, OK. The second was a souped-up Persona with the leftover powers of a god. But it was big and gold and ugly and I shot it in the face with my own hand, so I think the point stands.”

“Sounds close enough,” Yu agreed as he reached for another croquette.

Ren took a swig of coffee, then added, “And then I got in a slap fight with Maruki on top of the crumbling remains of his Palace.”

Yu had just taken a bite of his snack, so he raised an eyebrow and had to chew for a bit before he repeated, “A slap fight.”

Ren wasn’t sure he could grin any harder. “Technically it was a fist fight, but by then we were so tired out that we were basically weakly slapping each other. With our fists.” He mimed weakly swiping at the air with one semi-clenched hand. “He just didn’t want to admit yet that he’d been beat.” 

“Wow, how dramatic. You certainly know how to end your exploits with a bang,” Yu commented.

“Sure, that was shooting a god in the head again,” Ren retorted. “The slap fight was just a bonus.” He took a moment to reflect on the event, one more death-defying bit of excitement before he’d woken up in juvie. Which reminded him…“Oh, and after that I dreamed of the Velvet Room once more and Igor gave me the World Arcana.”

Yu blinked, then grinned broadly at the news. “Well, then, _now_ we know your journey’s done. Which means you can call on me for absolutely anything. Even if another god starts causing trouble, we’ll take it on together.” 

The thought of the two Wild Cards teaming up to face some unsuspecting supernatural threat brought out Joker’s confident smirk. “They’ll never see us coming.” Ren was pretty sure that between the two of them, they could take on the world. Because of course, they _were_ The World.

Yu started to reach for another croquette, then paused and muttered, “Oh, wait a sec.” He instead grabbed a napkin to wipe the grease and crumbs off his hands, then reached into his jacket pocket. “Here, I wanted to give you something,” he said as he pulled out a set of slim grey glasses.

Ren could only stare for a moment when Yu held them out to him. “Your TV World glasses? Are you sure?” he asked incredulously, looking up at his friend to make sure he meant it.

Yu smiled and said, “Positive. I don’t need them anymore anyway, so I want you to have them. Think of it as passing the torch.”

Still, Ren hesitated. Several of his other confidants had already given him little keepsakes, but this seemed really personal. He wasn’t sure it was right for him to take something that reminded Yu of his other friends. 

While he started at it uncertainly, Yu commented, “You know, a while back I looked up some information on playing cards. I found that in the card game Euchre, the Jack was the highest ranking card...until the Joker was invented specifically to trump it.” Ren looked up from the glasses to meet Yu’s proud expression. “I’m pretty sure you’ve surpassed me at this point.” He held up the glasses a little more in a silent invitation.

Ren held his gaze for a moment before slowly smiling back. “OK. Thanks, I’ll take good care of them,” he replied. And he made sure to wipe off his own hands before accepting the glasses. 

As he tucked them in his own jacket pocket, an idea occurred to him. “Though if you’re handing things off, we should do it the Phantom Thief way,” and held up his hand for a high five. Yu looked at it for a moment before comprehension dawned and he raised his own hand.

The sharp clap of their hands rang out, signaling the passing of a baton.

 **Confidant: Yu Narukami**  
**Arcana: World**  
**Rank: MAX**  
**Farewell gift: Old Glasses - A memento from Yu. Mental Clarity unlocked.**  
[Game mechanic: Allows Joker to retain the benefits of Mental Clarity in New Game+]


End file.
